TOPEKA, Kan.—Republican state lawmakers in Kansas are considering age verification legislation similar to copycat bills implemented across the country based on a law first implemented by Louisiana at the start of 2023. The bills being considered provide for "reasonable" age verification strategies for platforms that host age-restricted sexual materials as more than 25 percent of their content.
Kansas Reflector reports that the bills are currently pending before both chambers of the state legislature in Topeka. If adopted into law, the bills would allow parents of minors under 18 years who gain access to online pornography to file lawsuits and seek $50,000 or more against the companies that failed to implement age verification strategies. The companion proposals are House Bill 2592, introduced by Rep. Patrick Penn, and Senate Bill 394, introduced by Sen. J.R. Claeys. Both lawmakers are Republicans.
The legislation would also authorize the office of the Kansas attorney general to investigate non-compliance and seek civil penalties. A legal challenge questioning the constitutionality of the bills if they were to become law could be costly. Trade groups representing all aspects of tech and online pornography have filed lawsuits against similar laws claiming First Amendment violations and censorship.
Adult industry trade group the Free Speech Coalition has ongoing litigation in several jurisdictions. The most notable of those cases is a lawsuit brought against the state of Texas, which is currently being litigated in federal courts.
During the hearing on the legislation in Topeka, Iain Corby of the Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) testified in favor of the bills through a video call from their headquarters in London, England. AVPA is a multinational trade organization representing companies like Yoti and Incode, providing age-verification solutions for platforms like Pornhub's parent company Aylo Holdings.
He told Kansas lawmakers that he believed these bills could survive a constitutional challenge in the courts. AVN previously reported on Corby and the AVPA. The association offered support for Texas in the lawsuit brought by the Free Speech Coalition against that state's age verification legislation, but the initial ruling by a federal district judge is that mandatory age verification on adult video platforms violated the First Amendment rights of adult consumers and the operators of the regulated adult entertainment sites.
The Kansas legislation is also supported by several religious groups, including the religious conservative Family Policy Alliance—a group considered by the Southern Poverty Law Center and GLAAD as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate organization in favor of censorship.
“Not only does pornography harm children’s well-being—there is also a strong correlation between pornography, human trafficking, and sexual abuse,” said Joseph Kohm, director of public policy for the alliance, via reporting by local NPR station KCUR.
Other industry groups, like NetChoice, came out in opposition due to First Amendment concerns. Carl Czabo, general counsel for NetChoice, said that the bill is problematic. “The bill represents a major government incursion into the traditional role that the family has played in Kansas and American history. Parents are the best stewards of their own children. Not the state," said Czabo, via the Reflector.
