TITLE 6

ACTIONS IN PARTICULAR CASES

CHAPTER 38

LIABILITY FOR PUBLISHERS AND DISTRIBUTORS OF MATERIAL HARMFUL TO MINORS ON THE INTERNET

6-3801.  LEGISLATIVE findings and INTENT. (1) The provisions of this chapter are intended to provide a civil remedy for damages against commercial entities that publish or distribute material that is harmful to minors on the internet. The legislature finds that pornography is creating a public health crisis and having a corroding influence on minors. Due to advances in technology, the universal availability of the internet, and limited age verification requirements, minors are exposed to pornography earlier in age. Pornography contributes to the hyper-sexualization of teens and prepubescent children and may lead to low self-esteem, body image disorders, an increase in problematic sexual activity at younger ages, and increased desire among adolescents to engage in risky sexual behavior. Pornography may also impact brain development and functioning, contribute to emotional and medical illnesses, shape deviant sexual arousal, and lead to difficulty in forming or maintaining positive, intimate relationships, as well as promote problematic or harmful sexual behaviors and addiction.

(2)  As provided in the Idaho consumer protection act that was passed by the legislature in 1971 and allows consumers to seek legal remedies through private lawsuits, it is the intent of the legislature to enable a minor person, or the parent or guardian of such person, who is exposed to harmful material on the internet to bring an action to recover damages.

(3)  It is the intent of the legislature that the sovereign immunity described in section 6-3808, Idaho Code, includes the constitutional sovereign immunity recognized by the court in Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida, 517 U.S. 44 (1996), and Alden v. Maine, 527 U.S. 706 (1999), which applies in both state and federal court, and which may not be abrogated by congress or by any state or federal court except pursuant to legislation authorized by section 5 of the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States, by the bankruptcy clause of article I, by congress’s powers to raise and support armies and to provide and maintain a navy, or by any other ground that might be recognized by the supreme court of the United States.

(4)  With respect to the severability provisions of section 6-3809, Idaho Code, it is the intent of the legislature that any court construing such provisions be mindful of Leavitt v. Jane L., 518 U.S. 137 (1996), in which, in the context of determining the severability of a state statute, the supreme court of the United States held that an explicit statement of legislative intent is controlling. It is the intent of the legislature that every provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word in this chapter, and every application of the provisions in this chapter to every person, group of persons, or circumstances, are severable from each other. The legislature further declares that it intends to enact this chapter, and each provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word, and all constitutional applications of the provisions of this chapter, irrespective of the fact that any provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word, or applications of this chapter could be declared invalid, preempted, or unconstitutional.

History:

[6-3801, added 2024, ch. 113, sec. 1, p. 486.]