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Committee approves HB 10‑58 (kidfluencer protections) as amended and sends it to Committee of the Whole
Summary
House Bill 10‑58 would require trusts for minors who are professionalized in monetized online content, create a right to removal for adults who appeared as minors, and create a civil cause of action against intentionally sexualizing children for profit. The committee adopted two friendly amendments and advanced the bill to the Committee of the Whole.
Representatives Lukens and Slaw introduced House Bill 10‑58, a three‑part bill to create financial, privacy and civil protections for minors who appear in monetized online content.
The bill’s financial provision requires a parent or guardian who is a content creator to place a percentage of gross earnings into a trust for a minor when three thresholds are met over a 12‑month period: the minor appears in 30% or more of a creator’s content, the content meets a platform’s compensation threshold (or earns $0.10 or more per view), and the creator receives at least $15,000 from the content. If a single child is featured, 50% of gross earnings must be placed in trust; when multiple minors are featured, separate trusts and pro rata allocations are required.
The bill also gives adults who appeared as minors a right to request removal or redaction of identifying information once they are adults; platforms must provide an accessible mechanism to accept removal requests and must notify creators. The bill creates a private civil remedy for intentionally sexualizing a child for financial gain (a civil, not criminal, prohibition).
Sponsors said the measure was modeled on state laws already under consideration or enacted in other states and that the legislation aims to modernize child‑labor and child‑protection tools for the digital economy. "This bill modernizes child labor and exploitation protections for the digital economy by ensuring compensation, transparency, privacy rights and robust remedies when minors are used in monetized online content," a sponsor said.
Industry witnesses were present: Nikki Hackenberger for the Motion Picture Association and Melissa Faust for YouTube testified in support. YouTube emphasized the bill’s balance and said monetization thresholds are intended to capture professionalized channels; Faust said platforms often have relationship touchpoints with monetized creators that could be used to inform them of legal obligations.
Committee members pressed on implementation details: whether the bill should extend beyond parents/guardians to friends’ parents or agents; how a minor would realistically pursue a civil suit against a parent (sponsors said adults could bring an action when they turn 18 but expressed willingness to consider alternatives); how sponsorships and off‑platform payments would be treated (witnesses said the bill’s compensation calculation is intended to include external revenue); and whether platforms could or should notify creators once monetization thresholds are met. The committee adopted two friendly amendments: L1 (technical clarifying language for the content‑creator definition) and L2 (exempting newsrooms from the definition of online hosting platforms).
Representative Lukens moved HB 10‑58 to the Committee of the Whole as amended; a roll call was taken and the chair announced the bill passed out of committee to the Committee of the Whole.
What’s next: The bill will be considered by the Committee of the Whole; sponsors and stakeholders signaled willingness to refine technical aspects (notification, precise triggers for trust creation, and removal/verifications) before further chamber action.
