Arkansas legislators are considering a bill to prevent children from seeing porn

Little Rock, Arkansas – A bill allegedly designed to prevent kids from watching porn could soon be on Governor Sanders’ desk.

“Senate Bill 66 is about the protection of children,” sponsor Tyler Dees (R-Siloam Springs) said.

Dees stated that an age verification procedure would be used to carry out this.

Before entering a website advertising pornography, he said, viewers must present identification to show they are older than 18 years old.

Some have expressed some concern about websites having access to personal information pertaining to children, according to Dees, but the measure allays those worries and imposes liability on the website in the event that any personal information is retained or disclosed.

One of the 14 members of the House who “presented” the bill on Tuesday was Rep. Andrew Collins (D-Little Rock).

He stated the wording asserts the substance must have literary, aesthetic, scientific, and political value… rather than either or.

Collins said that the bill is excessively expansive as a result.

“That is so broad and that is basically any entertainment that does not have any redeeming artistic, political value, you would have to sign in and be over 18 to access,” he said.

As of earlier this year, Louisiana has made this a legal requirement. Dees claimed that the Louisiana law and their proposal to safeguard youngsters online served as some of its inspiration.

“Today, we require reasonable age verification if you want to purchase cigarettes over the counter if you want to purchase alcohol,” Dees said. “Today we are going to take a stand and make sure we take that same logic put it into law to protect children online.”

According to Dee, the amendment to concur is only a technical tweak and won’t impact the bill’s core provisions. The bill will now return to the Senate committee. After that, Governor Sanders will sign it.