Nearing a House floor vote, Vermont’s age-appropriate design code bill still looks “generally defensible” in court, said a Vermont attorney general office staffer at a House Commerce hearing Wednesday morning. Later that day, after amending S-69 with a longer implementation period, the committee voted 10-0 to advance the measure to the House floor.
The Oregon legislature approved an automotive privacy bill Thursday, while another possible change to the state’s comprehensive privacy bill edged closer to the finish line.
Alabama’s comprehensive privacy bill ran out of time to pass the legislature this year, so sponsor Rep. Mike Shaw (R) is looking toward 2026, he told Privacy Daily Friday. The state legislature adjourned earlier this week.
A tech industry group raised privacy and other concerns with a Texas bill (HB-186) that would require age verification and ban kids younger than 18 from creating social media accounts.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation applauded Montana for being the first state to close a “data broker loophole” for law enforcement. Separately, Cooley lawyers noted Montana's leadership role among states in crafting the country's third neural privacy law.
Texas and Nebraska governors will consider signing age-verification bills soon.
True to its name, Free Speech Coalition, a trade association representing the adult entertainment industry, condemned Arizona’s age-verification bill, HB-2112, whose aim is to prevent minors from accessing porn websites (see 2501170053). Governor Katie Hobbs (D) signed the age-verification legislation Tuesday.
Public support continued for a Texas bill that would remove private schools from the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act. During a hearing Wednesday of the House Trade, Workforce & Economic Development Committee, Rep. Jared Patterson (R) called SB-1860 a “cleanup bill,” since private schools were never intended to be included in the definition of “digital provider.” Public and charter schools were excluded in the original SCOPE, Patterson said.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong (D) hailed a "strong bipartisan vote" in the state legislature on a social media age-verification bill. The House voted 121-26 Wednesday in favor of HB-6857, sending it to the Senate.
Rhode Island lawmakers should add a private right of action to their comprehensive AI legislation, the American Civil Liberties Union told that state's Senate Artificial Intelligence Committee at a hearing Monday.