House Rules Committee Unanimously Passes Bill Protecting Children From Internet Pornography

On Wednesday the House Rules Committee unanimously passed legislation to help protect children from pornography online.

S.B. 66 by Sen. Tyler Dees (R – Siloam Springs) and Rep. Mindy McAlindon (R – Centerton) requires pornographic websites to implement an age verification process to protect children from pornography.

This good bill passed with nearly unanimous support in the Arkansas Senate earlier this month. On Wednesday it passed unanimously in the House Rules Committee as well.

S.B. 66 requires pornographic websites to verify users are 18 or older using a government-issued ID or another commercially available age-verification method.

In practice, this means porn sites would rely on IDs like a driver’s license to prevent minors from accessing pornographic material online.

Websites that violate S.B. 66 would be held liable under the law.

Similar legislation has been offered in other states.

Technology has given children unprecedented access to pornography. Among other things, pornography is believed to contribute to mental health problems.

S.B. 66 would help address this problem in Arkansas.

Now that the bill has passed in the House Rules Committee, S.B. 66 goes to the entire Arkansas House of Representatives for consideration.

Below is a list of the members of the House Rules Committee:

• Representative DeAnn Vaught
• Representative Shad Pearce
• Representative Frances Cavenaugh
• Representative Carol Dalby
• Representative Matt Duffield
• Representative Jon S. Eubanks
• Representative Kenneth B. Ferguson
• Representative Lanny Fite
• Representative Mike Holcomb
• Representative Lane Jean
• Representative Stephen Magie
• Representative Jeremiah Moore
• Representative Milton Nicks, Jr.
• Representative Dwight Tosh
• Representative Jeff Wardlaw