The House Judiciary Committee has begun work on multiple bills to protect children from obscene material both online and in person. These bills focus on the online world of pornography, AI created images, and strong penalties for those who prey on children.
House File 62 establishes liability for a commercial entity that publishes or distributes pornography on the internet, if a minor gets access to the material and House File 64 increases the penalties for individuals who knowingly share or display obscene material to minors, excluding parents or guardians.
HF 62 is not intended to target internet providers but instead, it’s focused on the websites and companies that produce and distribute the pornographic materials. As of now, 19 states have laws requiring some type of age verification before an individual can view a pornographic site. The language of the bill is being carefully evaluated and will be up for a vote in the Judiciary Committee in the next several weeks.
HF 62 also tackles artificially created pornography. Under current law, pornography featuring someone under the age of 18 is already illegal. But what if the person portrayed wasn’t a real person? HF 62 makes it a crime to use AI to create a child and use that child in a pornographic way. This prevents pornographic companies from trying to avoid the law on child pornography by “creating” the image of a fake child and using the image in obscene ways. Representatives are currenting working on the language of the bill to prevent loopholes as technology advances.
I am proud to personally floor manage HF 64. Currently this crime is classified only as a serious misdemeanor, but this bill would increase the penalties, in a tiered fashion, from a serious misdemeanor for the first offense to an aggravated misdemeanor for the second offense to a class “D” felony for the third and subsequent offense. A serious misdemeanor carries a potential sentence of one year in jail. An aggravated misdemeanor carries a potential sentence of two years in prison and a class “D” felony carries a potential prison sentence of up to five years and requires offenders to register as sex offenders for ten years. In addition to increasing the penalties for these offenses, I also added mandatory minimum sentences to both the aggravated misdemeanor and felony charges.
