PHOENIX/DES MOINES, Iowa—Age verification proposals in Arizona and Iowa are advancing in their respective state legislatures with broad Republican support.
Unlike a bill that the Free Speech Coalition recently supported in North Dakota, which places device-based verification at the heart of the text, both the Arizona and Iowa bills are “strict” age-gating measures that rely on government identification documents, consumer transactional data, and other sensitive personal identifying information.
The Arizona bill, introduced by freshman state Rep. Nick Kupper, R-Suprise, is House Bill 2112. The Kupper bill is similar to measures adopted in Texas and others. Several of these similar laws are under judicial review for being facially unconstitutional measures and potentially censorial toward otherwise legally operating adult platforms.
Kupper’s bill passed out of the committee phase in the state House along traditional party lines. All Republicans voted in favor of it, and Democrats voted against it. After a successful committee hearing, the bill will be sent to the full House for a second reading and floor debate.
Attempts at age verification legislation in Arizona have been unsuccessful. As AVN reported last year, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat,Â
vetoed a Republican-backed bill similarly structured to the Kupper bill. Hobbs called the age verification measure at the time called it out of “the bounds of the First Amendment.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona characterized Kupper’s bill and legislation as being tantamount to “government censorship.”
Meanwhile, Iowa lawmakers have advanced House File 62 to the state’s House Judiciary Committee forÂ
further consideration.
House File 62,Â
introduced by Republican state Rep. John Wills, R-Spirit Lake, at the beginning of the session, would create a new civil tort for companies that publish age-restricted materials without verifying user ages. According to the language of the bill, violators would be liable for damages to an individual, like court and attorney fees.
The Iowa measure is similar to other measures that don’t feature criminal penalties or far more invasive fines and penalties, such as those in Tennessee or Utah.
About 19 states have age verification laws in place, which means thatÂ
about 41 percent of all U.S. citizens live under such laws.
Arizona’s measure is likely to again face pushback from Gov. Hobbs, but Iowa is likely to join the growing number of Republican-controlled states with such laws.
