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Committee backs app-store age-verification requirement for minors with amendments and implementation delay
Summary
The House Committee on Commerce approved House Bill 570 with negotiated amendments requiring app stores to verify age and obtain parental consent before minors download apps; the bill includes implementation lead time, an enforcement role for the attorney general and a provision preserving developer-level obligations.
Lawmakers on Monday moved House Bill 570 forward with amendments after hours of testimony from parents, students, technology experts and industry groups about age verification, parental control tools and constitutional concerns.
Representative Jack Carver, the bill’s sponsor, told the committee HB 570 "requires app stores to age verify and obtain parents' permission anytime a teen wants to download an app," arguing the two dominant app stores provide a single effective level to perform verification. "The ability for these companies to do it already exists," Carver said, citing Apple’s Family Sharing and Google’s parental controls.
The committee adopted a negotiated amendment package (amendment set 2,164), which added definitions, clarified that developers who already are required by law to age-verify remain…
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