By Elizabeth Troutman |
Arizona Women of Action are urging the state legislature to pass a bill preventing children from accessing pornography.
“This non partisan bill needs SUPPORT,” the activist group said on Twitter. “It would effectively protect AZ kids from accessing pornography. Age verification is a must!”
Sponsored by Republican state representatives Tim Dunn and Ben Toma, House Bill 2586 adds a new section to a statute regulating the “publishing and distribution of material harmful to minors on the internet.”
The bill subjects commercial entities to civil liabilities for damages if they knowingly publish or distribute material harmful to minors on the internet on a website without age verification.
The legislation “Specifies that a commercial entity that fails to perform the age verification method described above is liable to an individual for the damages that result from a minor accessing the material harmful to minors, including court costs and reasonable attorney fees.”
If the bill passes, Arizona would be the tenth U.S. state to pass legislation requiring some form of age-verification for access to certain materials on the internet.
The other nine states include Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.
The Protect Arizona Children Coalition also voiced its support for the bill.
“We can’t believe this needs to be said…Pornography isn’t for kids,” the PACC tweeted, asking citizens to voice their support for the bill at its hearing on Jan. 31.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
