Lawmakers advance Nebraska age verification bill for porn

LINCOLN — Lawmakers gave first-round approval Wednesday to a legislative proposal that could require Nebraskans to verify their age before accessing online pornographic content.

At least nine states have such laws as proposed in Glenvil State Sen. Dave Murman’s Legislative Bill 1092. It would require commercial businesses that include a “substantial portion” of material harmful to minors, defined as more than one-third of the total website material, to have a reasonable age verification method. 

Various verification forms would be allowed, and the businesses couldn’t store the identification: 

• A digital ID, driver’s license or government-issued identification.
• Financial or other documents that are a “reliable proxy for age.”
• “Any commercial reasonable method that relies on public or private transactional data to verify the age of the person attempting to access the material.”

Murman, chair of the Legislature’s Education Committee, said that during debate on a separate measure related to obscenity in K-12 schools last week, he agreed that children have “unfettered access” to “endless hours of unlimited graphic material.”

“However, it doesn’t have to be that way,” Murman said.

LB 1092 advanced from first-round debate 31-0.

Research points to negative effects

Murman pointed to research from the American Psychological Association as well as a national survey of teens on why his measure was important.

In the former, research suggests pornography can lead to increased sexual aggression, interpersonal relationship problems, reinforced harmful gender stereotypes and more.

In the 2022 survey from Common Sense Media, a nonprofit child advocacy organization, nearly three-quarters of the 1,300 teens who responded said they had viewed porn; 54% said they viewed it before age 13.

“Every additional step which we put in front of our teens prior to accessing pornography is a second chance to stop and consider what they are accessing,” Murman said.

Arkansas, Indiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Texas, Utah and Virginia have an online age verification requirement for porn. This led Pornhub to pull its services out of several of the states and for searches for virtual private networks, or VPNs, to spike.

Kansas lawmakers also passed a similar measure this week, which now heads to Gov. Laura Kelly’s desk.

‘Unintended consequences’

State Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue, who led much of the debate questioning various provisions in LB 1092, asked whether the bill might save one child but leave thousands of Nebraskans open to identify fraud or theft.

“That’s not OK,” Blood said. “That’s an unintended consequence.”

Blood said the state does not have the proper guardrails in place to support the bill, such as a data broker registry that she said would better protect Nebraskans’ data.

“It’s just another hollow performance, which a lot of these technology bills are, that doesn’t strike at the heart of the problem,” Blood continued.

Blood pointed to other concerns during a two-day debate, such as why LB 1092 defines a “minor” as someone younger than 18 instead of younger than 19, which is the state’s age of majority. She also noted the age of consent for sex in Nebraska is 16. She said the same youths could not access pornography yet could be in a “full blown sexual relationship.”

“This bill is not ready for prime time, and we can’t fix it well enough this year,” Blood said.

Blood and two lawyers in the Legislature, State Sens. John Cavanaugh of Omaha and George Dungan of Lincoln, asked how civil liabilities in the bill would be enforced. LB 1092 would allow lawsuits against websites that do not include verification or if someone’s personal information is retained.

Murman described this as a “double blinded clinical trial” where the vendor reviews the information and then deletes it, and the third party could not detect whether the verification is for porn or other adult activity, such as gambling or buying alcohol.

Blood asked how someone could sue, then, if their information is meant to “magically” go away; Murman said LB 1092 just mandates that certain websites have the age verification tool.

Murman said he would be willing to add stronger data protections during second-round debate.

‘We do have a role here to play’

State Sen. Jana Hughes of Seward said there is “no perfect solution” with regard to what children can access online but LB 1092 was “one step closer to protecting our kids.”

“I think we do have a role here to play, and the Legislature has a responsibility to make sure, to the best of our ability, that businesses operating in our state or on our soil or on our internet have safeguards to protect our kids,” Hughes said.

In response to privacy concerns, Hughes said: “Don’t visit these websites in the first place.”

State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha, while engaging in discussing concerns from Blood, said she agreed some changes could improve LB 1092. She disagreed that lawmakers needed to wait until the bill was perfect before proceeding and echoed Hughes in saying it was a “first step.”

Blood said the issue wasn’t about waiting until LB 1092 was perfect but until it was “right.”

State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha more broadly disagreed with LB 1092 and said she doesn’t share the goal of preventing anyone from consuming pornography.

“I don’t think that’s compatible with First Amendment values or the values of freedom,” she said.

Parental involvement

State Sen. Jen Day of Omaha said she agreed with the intentions of the bill and that there is “some pretty awful stuff” accessible to youths, but she had concerns with LB 1092’s execution.

As a mom of two teenage boys, she said, it’s sometimes terrifying to think what they can access. However, she has “worked very hard in my house to cultivate an environment where my children can come and have conversations with me about these types of things.”

“That’s also an important piece of this conversation,” Day said.

Murman said he appreciates Day’s efforts and said the “ideal way” for parents to protect their children is to have a relationship with them and do everything they can to support them.

“This bill is there to help the parents — the good parents like Senator Day — to prevent those things from happening at least accidentally and make it at least difficult to do that intentionally,” Murman said.