JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.—Missouri lawmakers voted to advance an age verification bill out of the GOP-controlled state House of Representatives in a move that brings the state closer to being one of dozens to have laws that explicitly regulate access to adult content.
The bill was voted upon on third reading on March 4 and was then transmitted and taken up by the Senate on Monday. First reading was held that morning and, at the time of this writing, has yet to be referred to a Senate committee for a markup hearing.
Three separate AV proposals—HB 1839, introduced by state Rep. Sherri Gallick; HB 2921, introduced by state Rep. Melissa Schmidt; and HB 3015, introduced by state Rep. Jeff Farnan—were combined by the House Children and Families Committee into a substitute bill, as AVN reported.
It would require all websites with at least 33 percent of their content being comprised of material that is considered harmful to minors or "pornographic"—including adult platforms and mainstream social media networks like Reddit and X—to verify users' ages.
Despite a non-legislative regulatory intervention issued by former Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey in 2025 and further championed by his replacement, Catherine Hanaway, lawmakers in the Republican-controlled state legislature want the requirement codified in state statute to make future repeal harder.
