Subcommittee adopts amendment, advances bill creating felony for harmful nonconsensual sharing of intimate images

The Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Special Laws Subcommittee adopted an amendment and issued a favorable report for House Bill 3058, a measure that would create criminal penalties for knowingly sharing intimate images or digitally forged intimate images of another person without effective consent.

The bill, as amended, defines an "intimate image" as a still or video image of an identifiable person that depicts exposed intimate body parts, bodily fluids, or sexually explicit conduct. It defines "digitally forged intimate image" to include images that are altered or fabricated — including those produced or substantially modified using machine learning or other computer-generated techniques — that falsely depict an individual in an intimate manner.

Representative Travis Moore, chairing the panel, described the pause after a prior hearing as constructive, saying "it was kind of fortunate that we did adjourn debate and ran out of time last time because it did give us the opportunity to address some concerns" and to work with staff on an amendment. The amendment, introduced with support from the bill sponsor, distinguishes levels of culpability: unauthorized dissemination with intent to cause physical, mental, economic or reputational harm or for financial gain is a felony; cases without such intent may be charged as misdemeanors.

The amendment makes several specific changes. It clarifies that consenting to the creation of an intimate image does not imply consent to its dissemination; prior sharing of an image with a single person does not authorize further distribution by others; and multiple images distributed as part of a common act will be treated as a single offense rather than separate charges for each image. The proposal retains an exception allowing law enforcement to create or use intimate or digitally forged images during lawful criminal investigations.

Sponsor Representative Wooten urged the panel to address the harm of nonconsensual dissemination, noting the long-term consequences for victims and citing personal concern: he described "being a dad of 2 daughters" as part of his motivation for the measure. Members debated hypothetical fact patterns — including images posted to subscription platforms such as OnlyFans and photos taken in public — and discussed the statute's requirement that a violator "know or have reason to know the depicted person had a reasonable expectation of privacy." Representative Ryan McCabe and Representative Paul Wickenheimer questioned whether the bill's language could unintentionally criminalize certain reposting or copyright-type conduct; the committee majority agreed the mens rea and intent elements would limit prosecutions to harmful conduct.

During discussion, several members recommended removing one subsection they viewed as potentially overbroad. Representative Moore moved to adopt Amendment 1 with the deletion of paragraph 3 of Section A; the committee adopted the amendment by voice vote and later approved a favorable report as amended by roll call. Representative Travis Moore voted aye; Representative Ryan McCabe voted aye; Representative Paul Wickenheimer voted aye. With three in favor and none against, House Bill 3058 received a favorable report from the subcommittee.

The bill now proceeds with the subcommittee's favorable recommendation toward further committee consideration and possible floor action.