Anti-porn bill fails after Arizona Republicans question its constitutionality

A Republican bill that would require Arizonans to submit a government-issued ID to a website operator before accessing pornography online was defeated Monday after some GOP lawmakers said it might be unconstitutional. 

But that doesn’t mean the measure is completely dead.

The proposed law would require that websites with a “substantial portion” of “material harmful to minors” verify the age of Arizona users. The first draft of the bill suggested doing this by collecting a government-issued ID or digital ID card. The measure, Senate Bill 1503, is similar to a new law that just went into effect in Louisiana at the start of 2023.

The current version of the bill asks companies that host such content to use a “commercially available database” for age verification or “any other commercially reasonable method” of age verification. However, the bill does not define these methods. 

All modern personal computers, smartphones, tablets and web browsers come pre-installed with parental controls that allow for blocking of websites for minors, and all legal adult websites are required to be labeled with RTA, or “restricted to adults.” 

The legislation from Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, has already passed the Senate with full Republican support, as well as a handful of Democratic senators. However, when it was voted on by the House of Representatives Monday, the bill failed to gain the support it needed from both parties. 

“I encourage all of my members to vote against this. This is just a statement bill,” Rep. Alma Hernandez, D-Tucson, said. “I also don’t feel comfortable making people put in their ID information to access the internet, that is just weird.” 

At least one of Hernandez’s Republican colleagues also stood up to speak about his issues with the bill, as well. 

“What this bill does, in protecting minors, would be great,” Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale, said. But he added that the bill created “constitutional problems” he could not ignore. 

Those problems are ones that have been contemplated before by the courts. 

Previous versions of similar laws have also already been struck down by the courts multiple times. In Louisiana, a similar law was barred from being enforced in 2015 after a lawsuit was brought by book sellers. Arizona also had a similar law in 2000 signed by then-Gov. Jane Hull that was deemed unconstitutional.  

Despite opposition from some in its own party, the bill isn’t entirely dead yet. Kolodin, who voted against the bill, motioned to have the bill be reconsidered within the next two weeks for another vote. If the bill fails again, it will be officially dead.