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House approves bill to create a child-protection advertising registry for digital contacts
Summary
House amended and passed a bill to let parents register phone numbers and digital addresses to block advertisements for age-restricted products; sponsor said the registry would be encrypted, enforced by the attorney general and cost about $136,000 annually; final House vote was 70–2.
The House passed an amendment to create a child-protection registry that would allow parents and guardians to register contact points (phone numbers, cell addresses, email/fax) to block advertisements for products minors cannot legally purchase (alcohol, tobacco, sexually explicit material and gambling).
Representative Steiler (sponsor of the amendment) told the House the measure would assign the Department of Commerce to operate the registry, add one full-time investigator and provide the attorney general with part-time enforcement resources. He said the registry would use encryption to protect registrants' addresses and penalize misuse of the data.
Members questioned privacy and enforceability, especially for out-of-state or offshore advertisers. The sponsor said the attorney general supported enforcement plans and that emerging encryption and tracking technology makes enforcement feasible. Representative Bush and Representative Dougal asked about confidentiality and out-of-state enforcement; sponsor said risks are small and domestic offenders can be tracked.
The House adopted the amendment and passed the bill; floor announcement recorded the vote as "House Bill 165, having received 70 yes votes and 2 no votes, passes this body, will be forwarded to the Senate for further consideration."
