TALLAHASSEE – Days after Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed a competing measure, the Florida Legislature has again passed a sweeping age verification bill, including provisions specifically for adult websites, which the governor called “superior” to the previous efforts.
After the Senate passed HB 3 on Monday, Wednesday the House voted 109-4 to approve it and send it to DeSantis’ desk, the local NBC affiliate reported.
“This is something that I believe will save the current generation and future generations if we are successful,” said Republican Speaker of the House Paul Renner.
“The bill would partially prevent children under 16 from opening social media accounts — although it would allow parents to allow 14- and 15-year-olds to have accounts,” NBC 6 reported. “Children under 14 years could not open accounts.”
The bill also requires age verification to be implemented on adult websites to prevent minors under the age of 18 from gaining access.
As XBIZ reported, after DeSantis vetoed the earlier bill, HB 1, Senate President Kathleen Passidomo told the news site Florida Politics that Renner and De Santis were “working together on language that will work for them to basically address the concerns take that the governor has with HB 1. And my understanding is that they are in a very good place.”
There is some confusion about the name of the bill, as the new comprehensive HB 3 passed by the Legislature shares its name with the separate bill introduced by Rep. earlier this year. Chase Tramont, a politician and ordained minister who serves as pastor at Oceanway Church in New Smyrna Beach.
The earlier HB 3 was later combined with the general law on age verification on social media. The age verification requirements for adult sites are also part of the expanded HB 3 that passed Wednesday.
Florida-based First Amendment expert Lawrence Walters, of Walters Law Group, wrote to the Florida Senate Committee on behalf of his client, the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, opposing age verification requirements as “not only unconstitutional and a danger to consumer privacy, but also ineffective in preventing minors from accessing adult content.”