New Jersey Lawmakers Present Age Verification Measures

TRENTON, N.J.—State lawmakers in the New Jersey Assembly are considering competing proposals that would implement age verification requirements to access pornography websites, reports the New Jersey Monitor. During a panel Monday led by Republican lawmakers commemorating World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, which is held on July 30 every year, two proposals were discussed that consider measures to potentially require users to pay a per-device fee to have parental filters on mobile devices disabled, per one of the bills, or to submit to "reasonable" digital ID checks, under the other bill. Asm. Jay Webber, a Republican, proposed Bill A4146. If it were to become law, A4146 would require platforms with a third or more adult-oriented content to verify the age of visitors through digital identification cards or any other "reasonable" age verification means. This is the approach promoted by the Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA), a trade group for online safety software firms, whose executive director, Iain Corby, made an appearance at the Republicans' request. Asm. Webber's bill is what the Free Speech Coalition calls a "copy-cat" to Louisiana's age verification measure. Louisiana was the first state in the union to implement age verification laws in 2023. A4146 is currently before the Assembly Science, Innovation, and Technology Committee and is co-sponsored by five other lawmakers. No action has yet been taken on A4146. A3819, proposed by Asm. Michael Inganamort, was also presented to the panel. Inganamort's measure would establish "a one-time $20 digital access fee" paid to the state. The state treasurer would forward all of the funds generated from this proposed digital access fee to the office of the New Jersey Attorney General to fight human trafficking. Both bills provide for bureaucratic infrastructures to punish violators through a civil action brought by the Attorney General's office or through civil enforcement actions. A3819 is also a companion bill to S3265, an identical measure proposed in the state Senate. The measure was referred to the Assembly Public Safety and Preparedness Committee. There are currently 19 states in the union with some variation of age verification on the books. Some of these states have laws that are already in force, such as Louisiana and Utah, while others have these laws entering force in the upcoming fiscal and calendar years. The Free Speech Coalition and the world's largest porn sites have sued Texas for that state's AV law. That case is currently before the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court, with oral arguments expected during the high court's next term in the fall.