House committee advances bill to hold digital-content vendors accountable for 'sensitive' school materials

Representative Karianne Peck, sponsor of HB 473, told the House Education Committee on Feb. 28 that the bill expands prior sensitive-materials rules to explicitly cover digital resources provided to schools through vendors and through the Utah Education and Telehealth Network (UETN). "This bill provides a way for parents to be notified ... a way for a teacher to report stuff, even a student to report stuff that they feel like might classify as sensitive materials to their district," Peck said.

The bill would require vendors who supply curricular databases and other digital materials to notify contract holders (for example an LEA, UETN or the state board) if material in their collection is identified as objective sensitive material; vendors would have 30 days to remove such material after notification. The bill creates a three‑strike enforcement approach: if a vendor receives three notices for objective sensitive materials and fails to remove them, UETN may terminate the contract. The sponsor also said the bill would require vendors to remove links in their materials that lead to outside sites containing objective sensitive…