Senate Institutions debates S.69 'age-appropriate design' bill, weighs exemptions for video games and small businesses

The Senate Institutions Committee on Feb. 26 continued work on S.69, the "age-appropriate design" bill that would restrict online design and data practices deemed harmful to minors, as members reviewed draft 1.2 and discussed new exemptions and definitions.

The committee focused on two categories of changes: proposed thresholds and revenue limits intended to limit which businesses the law would cover, and language about whether the bill should exclude or treat differently video games and other content that may cause "compulsive use" or emotional distress in minors. Rick Sagle, Legislative Council attorney, walked the committee through the revision and highlighted the lines that show new language in draft 1.2.

The draft narrows the bill's reach in several ways. It proposes smaller consumer thresholds than an earlier draft (examples discussed included 25,000 or 50,000 consumers in the previous calendar year) and an annual gross revenue cap for covered entities (discussed in the meeting as "$1,000,000"). Sagle said…