Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 17 and Title 49, Chapter 1.

Under present law, it is a criminal offense for a person to produce, import, prepare, distribute, process, display, or publish, or appear in obscene material, or participate in an obscene performance. It is an exception to such offense that the obscene material is possessed by a person having scientific, educational, governmental, or other similar justification. This bill deletes educational justification from the exceptions. Present law requires LEAs to adopt an internet acceptable use policy that, among other things: (1) Seeks to prevent access by students to material that the school district deems to be harmful to juveniles; and (2) Requires selection of a technology for the school district's computers having internet access to filter or block internet access through the computers to child pornography and obscenity. This bill adds a requirement that the provider of a digital or online resource for an LEA's computers verify that the resource: (1) Prohibits and prevents a user of the resource from sending, receiving, viewing, or downloading materials that are deemed to be harmful to minors; and (2) Filters or blocks access to child pornography or obscenity. If a provider fails to comply with this bill's verification requirement, then the LEA may withhold further payments, if any, to the provider pending verification of the provider's compliance with such requirement. If a provider fails to timely verify the provider's compliance with this section, then the LEA may consider the provider's non-compliance a breach of contract. This bill requires each local board of education to: (1) Establish, or contract with a third party to establish, a mechanism for the parent or legal guardian of a student enrolled in the LEA, or a student enrolled in the LEA, to report a failure of the technology selected by the LEA to prevent access to pornography or obscenity through online resources to the respective school; and (2) Submit an annual report to the state board of education on the successes or failures of the technology selected by the LEA to prevent access to pornography or obscenity through online resources, including the number of reports submitted by parents, guardians, and students. ON APRIL 18, 2022, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENTS #1 AND #2 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 2454, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 limits, rather than deletes, the educational justification concerning obscene materials and performances, as described in the Bill Summary, to that the educational justification exception will not apply if the obscene material is possessed by a person with the intent to send, sell, distribute, exhibit, or display the material to a minor. This amendment clarifies that the provisions of this bill concerning internet filter technology are to be contractual provisions between LEAs and providers of such technology, instead of directly imposing such requirements on the technology providers. This amendment specifies that a provider must fail to timely verify the provider's compliance with this bill's verification requirements for more than five business days before the LEA may consider the provider's non-compliance a breach of contract. This amendment defines "verification" to mean a documented attestation by a provider of technology for LEA computers that the provider will fulfill the requirements of this bill concerning prohibiting and preventing users from sending, receiving, viewing, or downloading materials that are deemed to be harmful to minors and filtering or blocking access to child pornography or obscenity, submitted to the LEA prior to execution of a contractual agreement between the LEA and the provider. This amendment adds a severability clause to this bill. AMENDMENT #2 replaces the provisions of Amendment #1 that require the provisions of this bill concerning internet filter technology to be contractual provisions and defining "verification". This amendment requires a provider of digital or online resources, with which an LEA or a state agency contracts for the provision of digital or online materials created and marketed for K-12 school use, to do the following: (1) Verify that the digital or online materials do not violate the prohibition against distributing obscene material to minors; (2) Filter, block, or otherwise prevent access to pornography or obscenity through one's use of the digital or online materials; (3) Verify, in writing, that the provider's technology prevents a user from sending, receiving, viewing, or downloading materials that are harmful to minors; and (4) Remove, upon the contracting LEA's or state agency's request, access to digital or online materials for ages or audiences for which the contracting LEA or state agency has determined the material to be age- or audience-inappropriate. This amendment requires an LEA or a state agency that contracts for the provision of digital or online materials created and marketed for K-12 school use shall adopt and implement a policy that: (1) Allows a person to file a complaint with the respective LEA or state agency concerning an alleged violation prohibition against distributing obscene material to minors; and (2) Requires the LEA or state agency to review a complaint to determine if action is necessary. This amendment's provisions do not apply to medical resources or archival collections.