HB 1513 — An Act amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in computer offenses, providing for liability for Internet publishers and distributors of material harmful to minors.

PRINTER'S NO.   1769

                     THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



                         HOUSE BILL
                         No. 1513
                                                 Session of
                                                   2025

     INTRODUCED BY COOPER, CEPEDA-FREYTIZ, FLICK, KAUFFMAN,
        LEADBETER, KUZMA, GILLEN, OWLETT, PUGH, DALEY, BANTA, ROWE,
        FLEMING, SHUSTERMAN, GUENST, SAPPEY, WEBSTER, WAXMAN, FRIEL,
        BOROWSKI AND SCOTT, MAY 28, 2025

     REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY,
        MAY 29, 2025


                                     AN ACT
 1   Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania
 2      Consolidated Statutes, in computer offenses, providing for
 3      liability for Internet publishers and distributors of
 4      material harmful to minors.
 5      The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
 6   hereby enacts as follows:
 7      Section 1.    Subchapter E heading of Chapter 76 of Title 18 of
 8   the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes is amended to read:
 9                                SUBCHAPTER E
10                    ELECTRONIC MAIL AND WEBSITE MATERIAL
11      Section 2.    Title 18 is amended by adding a section to read:
12   § 7662.   Liability for Internet publishers and distributors of
13                material harmful to minors.
14      (a)    Duty of commercial entities.--A commercial entity that
15   knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes material
16   harmful to minors on the Internet from a website that contains a
17   substantial portion of such material shall be held liable if the
 1   entity fails to perform reasonable age verification measures to
 2   verify the age of individuals attempting to access the material.
 3      (b)   Prohibited conduct.--A commercial entity described in
 4   subsection (a) or a third party that provides reasonable age
 5   verification measures under subsection (a) may not:
 6            (1)   keep or retain the personal identifying information
 7      of an individual who accesses or views or attempts to access
 8      or view material harmful to minors; or
 9            (2)   share the personal identifying information of an
10      individual who accesses or views or attempts to access or
11      view material harmful to minors with another person.
12      (c)   Recovery authorized.--A court of competent jurisdiction
13   may award the following damages for a violation of subsection
14   (a), when a minor accesses or views the material harmful to
15   minors, or subsection (b):
16            (1)   Treble damages arising from the violation or
17      $10,000, whichever is greater.
18            (2)   Reasonable attorney fees and court costs.
19            (3)   Injunctive relief sufficient to prevent the
20      defendant from a continued violation of subsection (a).
21            (4)   Additional relief the court deems necessary and
22      proper.
23      (d)   Exception.--An Internet service provider, affiliate or
24   subsidiary of an Internet service provider, search engine or
25   cloud service provider does not violate this section solely by
26   providing access or connection to or from a website or other
27   information or content on the Internet, or a facility, system or
28   network not under that provider's control, including
29   transmission, downloading, storing or providing access to the
30   extent that the Internet service provider does not create the

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 1   content of the communication that constitutes material harmful
 2   to minors.
 3      (e)     Definitions.--As used in this section, the following
 4   words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this
 5   subsection unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
 6      "Commercial entity."     A corporation, limited liability
 7   company, partnership, limited partnership, sole proprietorship
 8   or other legally recognized entity that:
 9            (1)   is engaged in commerce in this Commonwealth; or
10            (2)   purposefully avails itself of the market of this
11      Commonwealth or a portion of the market.
12      "Digital identification."     Information stored on a digital
13   network that may be accessed by a commercial entity and serves
14   as proof of the identity of the individual.
15      "Distribute."     To issue, sell, give, provide, deliver,
16   transfer, transmute, circulate or disseminate by any means.
17      "Harmful to minors."     As defined in section 5903(e)(6)
18   (relating to obscene and other sexual materials and
19   performances).
20      "Minor."     An individual who is under 18 years of age.
21      "Publish."     To communicate or make information available to
22   another individual or entity on a publicly accessible Internet
23   website.
24      "Reasonable age verification measure."     Technology that:
25            (1)   employs a system or process to determine whether it
26      is more likely than not that a user attempting to access
27      content on a website is an adult; and
28            (2)   prevents access by minors to any content that is
29      harmful to minors.
30      "Substantial portion."     More than 33 1/3% of total material

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 1   on a website, which meets the definition of "harmful to minors."
 2      "System or process."   A process by which a user furnishes a
 3   copy of one or more of the following documents or information to
 4   verify the user's age:
 5          (1)   government identity document, including a driver's
 6      license, military identification card, passport or
 7      certificate of naturalization;
 8          (2)   digital identification;
 9          (3)   bank account information; or
10          (4)   any other document that reliably and accurately
11      establishes that a user attempting to access content on a
12      website is an adult.
13      "Website."   A collection of material placed in a computer
14   server-based file archive so that the material is publicly
15   accessible, over the Internet, using hypertext transfer protocol
16   or any successor protocol.
17      Section 3.   This act shall take effect in 60 days.




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