LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Arkansas House approved yesterday an amendment to a Republican bill introduced in January by a state senator requiring age verification before “entering a website offering pornography” over confusing language concerning “corporate entities” and “third party vendors.”
SB 66 was introduced by Sen. Tyler Dees (R-Siloam Springs), who later admitted that his state initiative is only a stepping stone toward the ultimate goal of a federal mandate.
Yesterday, a voice vote in the House sent the amended SB 66 back to the Committee on House Rules for further consideration, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported.
Rep. Mindy McAlindon (R-Centerton) told the paper, “the amendment was needed to clarify distinctions between ‘corporate entities’ and ‘third party vendors’ in the bill.”
As XBIZ reported, SB 66 is a copycat version of Louisiana’s Act 440, a new law enacted in January after being championed by a religious anti-porn activist Republican legislator.
Dees’ proposed bill requires a “digitized identification card” to prove the age of anyone from Arkansas trying to enter “any website with over 23.33% of its material meeting the pornography description.”
The bill also claims that “pornography is creating a public health crisis and contributes to the hyper-sexualization of minors.”
Federal Age Verification As Final Goal
Dees — also an executive in a poultry plant who says he spends his free time “in Bible study” — told Vice that he hoped “that we protect children and their innocence in [the] state of Arkansas and then send a message across the country that we need something similar built into federal law as well,” admitted to Vice in February.
The state senator also referred to a supposed “explosion” in the ability of children to access online content.
The Arkansas bill is being promoted amidst what Free Speech Coalition has called a wave of “the most aggressive censorship we’ve seen in decades” and also includes the state senator’s definition of what kinds of material would constitute “pornography.”
Republicans throughout the country are currently seeking to outlaw all adult content by overturning the 1973 “Miller Test” differentiating First Amendment-protected sexual material from illegal “obscene” material produced to appeal to “a prurient interest.”
Main Image: Anti-porn Arkansas State Senator Tyler Dees (R-Siloam Springs) (Photo: Arkansas Senate)