US Codex
Bill
Notes

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.

H.R. 863 · 118th Congress · Feb 7, 2023 · Lineage

A BILL

Section 1 Prohibition on knowingly furnishing sexually explicit material to a school or an educational agency

(a)
Prohibition on knowingly furnishing sexually explicit material to a school or an educational agency— Chapter 71 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

“1471. Furnishing of sexually explicit material to a school or an educational agency

“(a) Offenses

“(1) Publishing house—Whoever, in or affecting interstate commerce, being a publishing house, knowingly furnishes an elementary school, a secondary school, a local educational agency, or a State educational agency with published material containing a sexually explicit visual depiction of any kind, including a picture, photograph, or drawing, shall be subject to a fine of not more than $500,000.

“(2) President, director, manager, or officer of a publishing house

“(A) In general—Whoever, in or affecting interstate commerce, being a president, director, manager, or officer of a publishing house, knowingly authorizes the furnishing of published material in violation of paragraph (1) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.

“(B) Affirmative defense—It shall be an affirmative defense to a charge of violating subparagraph (A) if the defendant proves, by a preponderance of the evidence, that an individual at a higher management level knowingly authorized the furnishing of the published material involved.

“(b) Excepted material—The prohibitions in subsection (a) do not apply with respect to material with serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

“(c) Definitions—In this section:

“(1) ESEA terms—The terms elementary school, local educational agency, secondary school, and State educational agency have the meanings given those terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).

“(2) Published material—The term published material—

“(A) means any book, magazine, newspaper, or other printed material; and

“(B) includes digital or electronic books.

“(3) Publishing house—The term publishing house means a for-profit entity that manufactures, distributes, or sells published material.”

(b)
Clerical amendment— The table of sections for chapter 71 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 1470 the following:

Sec. 2 Prohibition on Federal funds for school obtaining or educational agency distributing sexually explicit material

(a)
No Federal funds for school obtaining sexually explicit material— No Federal funds may be provided to an elementary school or a secondary school that knowingly obtains published material containing a sexually explicit visual depiction of any kind, including a picture, photograph, or drawing, until such time that the school relinquishes or destroys the published material.
(b)
No Federal funds for educational agency distributing sexually explicit material— No Federal funds may be provided to a local educational agency or a State educational agency that knowingly distributes to an elementary school or a secondary school published material containing a sexually explicit visual depiction of any kind, including a picture, photograph, or drawing, until such time that the educational agency instructs the school to which the educational agency distributed the published material to either relinquish or destroy the material.
(c)
Excepted material— The prohibitions in subsections (a) and (b) do not apply with respect to material with serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
(d)
Definitions— In this section:
(1)
ESEA terms— The terms elementary school, local educational agency, secondary school, and State educational agency have the meanings given those terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
(2)
Published material— The term published material—
(A)
means any book, magazine, newspaper, or other printed material; and
(B)
includes digital or electronic books.