Establishing requirements related to electronic resources provided by postsecondary schools, public libraries, schools, and state agencies to students enrolled in kindergarten through grade twelve, providing penalties, and including effective date provisions

This bill establishes requirements related to electronic resources provided by postsecondary schools, public libraries, schools, and state agencies to students enrolled in kindergarten through grade 12. The bill defines “educational receiver” to include postsecondary school, public libraries, schools, and state agencies. The bill defines “electronic resource” as digital database resources, internet-based database resources, digital instructional materials, digital instructional subscriptions, internet-based instructional materials, and internet-based instructional subscriptions. The bill defines “provider” to mean a person, vendor, or any other entity that provides electronic resources, including free electronic resources, to an educational receiver. The bill also defines “obscene material”, “postsecondary school”, “public library”, “school”, “state agency”, and “visual depiction of a minor”. The bill prohibits an educational receiver from offering an electronic resource to a student enrolled in kindergarten through grade 12, including a free electronic resource, unless the educational receiver has entered into a written agreement with the provider related to the electronic resource that states that the provider agrees that the electronic resource has safety policies and technological protection measures that satisfy the requirements established in the bill. The bill provides that, within days after the execution of the written agreement, the provider is required to certify to the educational receiver that the electronic resource’s safety policies and technology protection measures satisfy all of the requirements established in the bill. If the provider fails to make this certification, such failure is deemed a breach of the written agreement, and the educational receiver is required to immediately terminate the written agreement. The bill also provides that if, at any point or more days after the execution of the written agreement, the electronic resource’s safety policies and technology protection measures do not satisfy any of the requirements established in the bill, the educational receiver is required to withhold any payments due to the provider until the provider certifies to the educational receiver that the electronic resource’s safety policies and technology protection measures satisfy all of the requirements established in the bill. The bill requires a provider to, annually on or before June 30, provide a report to the educational receiver that describes any issues the contractor experienced related to the ability of the electronic resource’s safety policies and technological protection measures to comply with the requirements established in the bill. The educational receiver is required to provide the department of education with a copy of such report. The bill allows any person who believes that an electronic resource’s safety policies and technology protection measures do not satisfy the requirements established in the bill, or that an educational receiver is otherwise not complying with the bill’s requirements, to notify the attorney general of the potential violation. The bill allows the attorney general to bring a civil action for injunctive relief against the educational receiver to require the educational receiver to comply with the bill’s requirements. If the attorney general is the prevailing party in the civil action, the court is required to award reasonable court costs and attorney fees to the attorney general. The bill establishes that sexual exploitation by an employee of an educational receiver occurs when a court finds that the employee offered an electronic resource to a student enrolled in kindergarten through grade when the educational receiver had not entered into a written agreement with a provider related to the electronic resource that satisfies the requirements established in the bill. The bill provides that such an employee commits an aggravated misdemeanor. An aggravated misdemeanor is punishable by confinement for no more than two years and a fine of at least $855 but not more than $8,540.1(2), the offender may be required to attend a sexual abuser treatment program. The bill takes effect January 1, 2026.