Ala. Governor Signs AV Bill With Porn Tax & Record Keeping Rules

MONTGOMERY, Ala.—Ultraconservative Republican Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama has signed a controversial age verification bill that targets adult entertainment websites, according to reports from multiple sources. House Bill (HB) 164, initially proposed by state Rep. Ben Robbins, a Republican from the small city of Sylacauga, requires "reasonable" age verification measures to be implemented for adult sites that have users from Alabama IP addresses. However, the bill also features additional requirements that levy further layers of scrutiny, making this bill one of the more sweeping variations of age verification legislation proposed to date. “We are dealing with a mental health crisis exacerbated by children’s easy access to adult content,” said Robbins in a press statement from the Alabama Senate Republican Caucus via the Montgomery Independent. “I am proud to pass a bill which makes major strides to protect young minds and addresses issues plaguing societal growth.” HB 164 advanced through the House 101-1, and unanimously through the state Senate. Note that the Republicans maintain a supermajority in the state legislature. Senate Majority Leader Steve Livingston, a Republican from Scottsboro, carried the bill in the Senate.  "This is commonsense legislation that protects families from an industry that profits off our children," said Livingston in the same statement as Robbins. Upon review, HB 164 has several provisions that go beyond the requirement to verify users' ages. The bill levies a 10 percent use tax on all adult content sold and distributed in the state's digital space. The funds collected by the levy would fund mental health programs. The bill also includes language that would require adult content producers to participate in record-keeping regulations at the state level. Alabama would be overstepping federal authority in implementing this requirement, given that the U.S. Department of Justice regulates the age and record-keeping requirements for all pornography platforms, foreign and domestic, through 18 U.S. Code Section 2257. HB 164 also reiterates that the Alabama legislature recognizes pornography as a public health crisis—which the state formally declared via a March 2023 resolution—and mandates that adult websites publish pseudoscientific public health warnings on their web and marketing assets. Language for the labeling includes warning messages like: "ALABAMA HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES WARNING: Pornography is potentially biologically addictive, is proven to harm human brain development, desensitizes brain reward circuits, increases conditioned responses, and weakens brain function." Other labeling requirements include posting the phone number to a mental health helpline administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. SAMHSA does not recognize porn addiction as a diagnosis, nor does the American Psychiatric Association that publishes the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition. It is also worth noting that Alabama does not have a state agency named "Health and Human Services." This requirement is similar to one in the age verification law in Texas. But, a federal appeals court declared the public health labeling requirements in the Texas law to be unconstitutional.  The majority of the Alabama bill enters force on October 1, 2024, and the tax enters force on September 1, 2025. AVN also previously reported on a porn filtering bill in Alabama, which is currently pending before a Senate committe, that would require all mobile devices sold in the state to have parental filters enabled at the point of sale. This bill, HB 167, is similar to a law on the books in Utah.