Federal

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a publishing house from knowingly furnishing sexually explicit material to a school or an educational agency, to prohibit Federal funds from being provided to a school that obtains or an educational agency that distributes sexually explicit material, and for other purposes.

Source: Congress.gov · 1,053 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill makes it illegal for publishing companies to knowingly send sexually explicit materials to schools and educational agencies. It also prevents schools and educational agencies that knowingly obtain or distribute such materials from receiving federal money.

Who It Affects

Publishing houses and their leaders, elementary schools, secondary schools, local educational agencies, state educational agencies, and anyone receiving federal education funds.

Key Provisions

• Publishing houses that knowingly furnish sexually explicit visual material (such as pictures, photographs, or drawings) to schools or educational agencies face fines up to $500,000. (Sec. 1(a)(1)) • Presidents, directors, managers, or officers of publishing houses who knowingly authorize the furnishing of such materials can be fined, imprisoned for up to 5 years, or both. (Sec. 1(a)(2)(A)) • Elementary and secondary schools that knowingly obtain sexually explicit visual material cannot receive federal funds unless they give up or destroy the material. (Sec. 2(a)) • Local and state educational agencies that knowingly distribute sexually explicit visual material to schools cannot receive federal funds unless they instruct the school to give up or destroy the material. (Sec. 2(b)) • The prohibitions do not apply to material with serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. (Sec. 1(b) and Sec. 2(c))

What Changes

Federal criminal law will now include penalties for publishing houses that send sexually explicit materials to schools. Federal funding eligibility will depend on schools and educational agencies not obtaining or distributing such materials.

Important Definitions

Published material means any book, magazine, newspaper, or other printed material, including digital or electronic books. Publishing house means a for-profit business that manufactures, distributes, or sells published material.

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 863 To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a publishing house from knowingly furnishing sexually explicit material to a school or an edu- cational agency, to prohibit Federal funds from being provided to a school that obtains or an educational agency that distributes sexually explicit material, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 7, 2023 Mr. MILLS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris- diction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a pub- lishing house from knowingly furnishing sexually explicit material to a school or an educational agency, to prohibit Federal funds from being provided to a school that ob- tains or an educational agency that distributes sexually explicit material, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:19 Mar 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H863.IH H863 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 863 IH SECTION 1. PROHIBITION ON KNOWINGLY FURNISHING 1 SEXUALLY EXPLICIT MATERIAL TO A SCHOOL 2 OR AN EDUCATIONAL AGENCY. 3 (a) PROHIBITION ON KNOWINGLY FURNISHING SEX- 4 UALLY EXPLICIT MATERIAL TO A SCHOOL OR AN EDU- 5 CATIONAL AGENCY.—Chapter 71 of title 18, United 6 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 7 lowing: 8 ‘‘§ 1471. Furnishing of sexually explicit material to a 9 school or an educational agency 10 ‘‘(a) OFFENSES.— 11 ‘‘(1) PUBLISHING HOUSE.—Whoever, in or af- 12 fecting interstate commerce, being a publishing 13 house, knowingly furnishes an elementary school, a 14 secondary school, a local educational agency, or a 15 State educational agency with published material 16 containing a sexually explicit visual depiction of any 17 kind, including a picture, photograph, or drawing, 18 shall be subject to a fine of not more than $500,000. 19 ‘‘(2) PRESIDENT, DIRECTOR, MANAGER, OR OF- 20 FICER OF A PUBLISHING HOUSE.— 21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Whoever, in or affect- 22 ing interstate commerce, being a president, di- 23 rector, manager, or officer of a publishing 24 house, knowingly authorizes the furnishing of 25 published material in violation of paragraph (1) 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:19 Mar 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H863.IH H863 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 863 IH shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not 1 more than 5 years, or both. 2 ‘‘(B) AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE.—It shall be 3 an affirmative defense to a charge of violating 4 subparagraph (A) if the defendant proves, by a 5 preponderance of the evidence, that an indi- 6 vidual at a higher management level knowingly 7 authorized the furnishing of the published ma- 8 terial involved. 9 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTED MATERIAL.—The prohibitions in 10 subsection (a) do not apply with respect to material with 11 serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. 12 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 13 ‘‘(1) ESEA TERMS.—The terms ‘elementary 14 school’, ‘local educational agency’, ‘secondary 15 school’, and ‘State educational agency’ have the 16 meanings given those terms in section 8101 of the 17 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 18 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 19 ‘‘(2) PUBLISHED MATERIAL.—The term ‘pub- 20 lished material’— 21 ‘‘(A) means any book, magazine, news- 22 paper, or other printed material; and 23 ‘‘(B) includes digital or electronic books. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:19 Mar 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H863.IH H863 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 863 IH ‘‘(3) PUBLISHING HOUSE.—The term ‘pub- 1 lishing house’ means a for-profit entity that manu- 2 factures, distributes, or sells published material.’’. 3 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 4 for chapter 71 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 5 by inserting after the item relating to section 1470 the 6 following: 7 ‘‘1471. Furnishing of sexually explicit material to a school or an edu- cational agency.’’. SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL FUNDS FOR SCHOOL 8 OBTAINING OR EDUCATIONAL AGENCY DIS- 9 TRIBUTING SEXUALLY EXPLICIT MATERIAL. 10 (a) NO FEDERAL FUNDS FOR SCHOOL OBTAINING 11 SEXUALLY EXPLICIT MATERIAL.—No Federal funds may 12 be provided to an elementary school or a secondary school 13 that knowingly obtains published material containing a 14 sexually explicit visual depiction of any kind, including a 15 picture, photograph, or drawing, until such time that the 16 school relinquishes or destroys the published material. 17 (b) NO FEDERAL FUNDS FOR EDUCATIONAL AGEN- 18 CY DISTRIBUTING SEXUALLY EXPLICIT MATERIAL.—No 19 Federal funds may be provided to a local educational 20 agency or a State educational agency that knowingly dis- 21 tributes to an elementary school or a secondary school 22 published material containing a sexually explicit visual de- 23 piction of any kind, including a picture, photograph, or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:19 Mar 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H863.IH H863 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 863 IH drawing, until such time that the educational agency in- 1 structs the school to which the educational agency distrib- 2 uted the published material to either relinquish or destroy 3 the material. 4 (c) EXCEPTED MATERIAL.—The prohibitions in sub- 5 sections (a) and (b) do not apply with respect to material 6 with serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. 7 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 (1) ESEA TERMS.—The terms ‘‘elementary 9 school’’, ‘‘local educational agency’’, ‘‘secondary 10 school’’, and ‘‘State educational agency’’ have the 11 meanings given those terms in section 8101 of the 12 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 13 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 14 (2) PUBLISHED MATERIAL.—The term ‘‘pub- 15 lished material’’— 16 (A) means any book, magazine, newspaper, 17 or other printed material; and 18 (B) includes digital or electronic books. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:19 Mar 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H863.IH H863 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB

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