Aging, Children and Youth, & Legislative Affairs- House
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Bills discussed (8)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
HB1717
Act 952
· 4 mentions in agenda, transcript, chapter
Matched: “AGENDA (Revised 3/10/25 @ 7:24 PM) Added HB1717 and HB1726 to the Regular Agenda House Committee on Aging,…”
|
TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS CHILDREN AND TEENS' ONLINE PRIVACY PROTECTION ACT. | Gramlich | Notification that HB1717 is now Act 952 |
|
HB1726
· 4 mentions in agenda, chapter, transcript
Matched: “AGENDA (Revised 3/10/25 @ 7:24 PM) Added HB1717 and HB1726 to the Regular Agenda House Committee on Aging, Children an…”
|
TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS KIDS ONLINE SAFETY ACT. | Gramlich | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1704
Act 388
· 3 mentions in agenda, chapter, transcript
Matched: “…THE CHILD MALTREATMENT INVESTIGATIONS OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE. HB1704 Andrews TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING CHILD CUSTODY IN MATTERS…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING CHILD CUSTODY IN MATTERS WHERE A PARENT IS A FIRST … | Andrews | Notification that HB1704 is now Act 388 |
|
HB1082
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1082 Gramlich TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS CHILDREN AND TEENS’ ONLINE…”
|
TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS CHILDREN AND TEENS’ ONLINE PRIVACY PROTECTION ACT. | Gramlich | WITHDRAWN BY AUTHOR |
|
SB339
Act 404
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…ACTING IN ACCORDANCE WITH SINCERELY HELD RELIGIOUS BELIEFS. SB339 A. Clark CONCERNING THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE CHILD MALTREATMEN…”
|
CONCERNING THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE CHILD MALTREATMENT INVESTIGATIONS OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE. | A. Clark | Notification that SB339 is now Act 404 |
|
HB1083
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1083 Gramlich TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS KIDS ONLINE SAFETY ACT.”
|
TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS KIDS ONLINE SAFETY ACT. | Gramlich | WITHDRAWN BY AUTHOR |
|
HB1669
Act 509
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1669 Bentley TO CREATE THE KEEP KIDS FIRST ACT; AND TO PROVIDE F…”
|
TO CREATE THE KEEP KIDS FIRST ACT; AND TO PROVIDE FOR PROTECTIONS FROM DISCRIMINATION FOR … | Bentley | Notification that HB1669 is now Act 509 |
|
HB17
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…lations, you've adopted your amendment. You may now present House Bill 17. I'm sorry.”
|
Pre-2017 bill |
Machine transcript
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- October 2, 2026
Speaker 1
0:14
Members, remember to use your mic. Also, if you are here to speak. On a bill for or against, if you would sign up on the sign up sheet that would help us all. And before we get going on our agenda, I'd like to welcome the scouts.
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
0:27
I spoke to a few before committee that were from Whitehall. I don't know where everyone's from, but either way, we welcome your scouts to the Capitol and to our committee today. Thank you for being here. OK, members, so without
Speaker 1
0:45
objection, we are gonna move down. The agenda and start with House Bill 1704 by Representative Andrews, and we have an amendment that will be coming around to you first. Thank you. I'll make sure she
Speaker 8
1:06
got the right bill number. She did. She did. I did. changes. Enough
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
1:16
So Representative Andrews, if you will, introduce yourself and your guests, then when the amendment is
Chair
Unverified
1:20
passed out, you will have an opportunity to address it first. Thank you, Madam Chair. uh Wade Andrews, State
Representative Wade Andrews
Unverified
1:27
Rep District 98. Um, Matthew Stallings with the Arkansas Professional Firefighters. You are recognized
Speaker 14
1:32
to present your amendment. Thank you. Uh, so, Madam
Representative Wade Andrews
Unverified
1:38
Chair, committees, all the, what the amendment does is add Senator Clark as a sin sponsor and it cleans up some grammar errors.
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
1:50
Any questions by committee on the amendment. The
Speaker 1
1:56
English teacher in me appreciates your grammatical corrections. No questions. Uh, what's the will of the committee? Have a have a motion do pass on the amendment to adopt the amendment. All in favor say aye. Opposed no. Congratulations, you've adopted your amendment. You may now present House Bill 17. I'm sorry.
Yeah, 1704 as amended. Thank you,
Representative Wade Andrews
Unverified
2:23
Madam Chair. So I was 1704, what this does is we've run into the problem of It's never a fun time when parents have to go through custody matters with with children, and so, um, there's been some courts that Have made determinations that a first responder can't be a good parent because of a work schedule. Uh, a firefighter, a full-time firefighter, a lot of times in the state either works
24 hours on and 48 hours off or 48 hours on the clock and 96 off. And so, You know, there's countless examples of good parents, but some courts have determined this is not um Applicable or or or good. So this bill fixes that and says the court cannot um Take, take the work schedule of a parent who's first responder into account. Yeah, and, and just reiterate what Representative Andrews
Speaker 14
3:23
said. Um, all we're asking for here is we're all things may be considered equal in a, in a, in a case of custody. It's to be treated fairly and uh not be penalized for our schedule because of our choice to serve our communities. Any questions?
Speaker 1
3:39
Are there any questions by committee? Seeing none. Was there anyone here to speak? Um, Gina.
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
3:54
And you can say your last name for me and then I won't butcher it. If you will, um, introduce yourself, you
Gina Indelicao
Unverified
4:06
will be recognized. Yeah. Good morning, Chair and members of the committee. My name is Gina Indelicao, and I am here to represent myself and my parents' group, Arkansas advocates for parental equality. We are the group responsible for the passage of the Joint Custody bill in the 2021 session. And we just wanted to come and support this bill and our first responder parents. This is a
good bill, and we ask for a good vote. Thank you.
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
4:29
Are there any questions for this witness? Thank you for
your testimony. Don't see anyone else signed up. Is there anyone in the audience that would wish to speak for or against this bill? Then Representative Andrews, you recognized the close for
Representative Wade Andrews
Unverified
4:46
your bill. Like that chair, um, committee, I just Help you um see how honest with this issue and uh would appreciate a good vote.
Speaker 1
4:55
Thank you. What's the will of the committee. I have a motion, several motions for due pass, all in favor, I'm sorry, as amended. Thank you. He has to amend me, um, at Du pass as amended all in favor say aye, opposed no. Congratulations, your bill is passed. OK. And on down the agenda. members if you'll move to House
Bill 1717 by Representative Grahamlick. And if you will introduce yourself, you are recognized to present. House Bill 1717. Thank you very much. I would like to invite
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
5:45
someone to the table real quick before we begin. Uh, my name is Zach Gramli, uh, State Representative District 50 Central Fort Smith.
Megan Wren
Unverified
5:58
My name is Doctor Megan Wren and I'm a pediatrician here. Oh,
Speaker 35
6:02
thank you. My name is Doctor Megan Rep, and I'm a pediatrician here in central Arkansas, and I'm here today representing the Arkansas chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. I'm their current vice president. Uh, thank you very much
Speaker 28
6:13
for your time today, um, Madam Chair and committee. First off, as an apology, um, I think, uh, if you've been following these
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
6:19
bills at all, you've seen they've made tons and tons of changes and I've even had to file new bills for the number of amendments we've made to get everyone on board or at least
happier with what the original bill was this uh 1717, um, and 1726, but both of these bills come off of some federal legislation that has stalled for a variety of reasons and the whole purpose of these. Bills that help protect our kids and how uh Tech industries are using our children's data, um, so specifically we'll talk first about 1717. 17 isAA 2.0 colloquially. CAA already exists is 13 under, um, but we're going to be trying to raise that in
Arkansas today to extend extend those protections to students 13 students and children 13 to 17. It creates guidance for technology platforms and the collection and use of personal information of children and teens and sharing of that data with third parties, um, if you would like, I can go pretty tech, not, not as I can go through the bill as as broadly as I can to hit just broad paintbrushes and what it does, and I'll I'll I'll do that in a moment, but is there anything you'd like to add before I begin that process. Go ahead, OK. So there's a lot of definitions,
um, and so I would encourage you to look at those definitions. I'm going to go straight to the meat of the bill, uh, which is 4881503 um which Begins a few pages in, and what this, what this does is it really just basically tells our tech companies how they are going to have to interact with our kids in the future if they want to continue operating with kids and teens. Our children and teens, so broad swaths, it's going to be unlawful to collect personal information from a children and teen except under certain circumstances, and it's unlawful to collect, use and dis disclose
that to third parties to use in a targeted advertising to children. Uh, there's some situations where it's OK to collect data for a small period of time like transactional if you, a child is buying a game or buying something online, there has to be some data collected. They can take that data, but then it has to be um or if there's law requirement, they can do that, but it's unlawful. To retain that for longer than necessary to fulfill a trans transaction and provide a service, um. If collection data, the following is necessary, um, you
have to provide notice that info is collected, the purpose of processing that personal data, disclosure practices for information, rights and opportunities of parents, categories of the data that was collected and that is shared with third parties. You have to obtain verifiable consent. That's just not clicking yes, saying I'm over the age of 18 or I'm under or whatever, just some sort of consent or way that a company can prove that they agreed to something, um. They're some data can be collected for specific products or service requested if it has to be for internal operations. Again, as
long as that's not shared with third party or disclosed on a platform, um. Some data can be collected to protect children from nefarious activities, breaking the law, law enforcement rules and regulations, legal claims complying with government authorities, protecting interests, uh, there's a big part about parental rights in this, um, ensuring that upon the request of a parent that a parent can can get data from a tech company that has collected data, why you took that data, why, how are you using that data? Have you disclosed that
data to anyone and if any days is retained and the opportunity to request deletion of said data, challenge the accuracy of data that's been collected on a child and allow the teen and to do some of the similar things as their parent. Um, That requires tech companies to require reasonable security practices to protect confidentiality, integrity, accessibility of personal information. Um, it talks about sometimes when variablefiable consent is or is not necessary and at times it's not necessary. It's a one time like um I need help with this specific thing.
OK, and then you delete any data that was collected so they cannot be retrievable. Um. Other things include um You can't keep data if it's to protect the safety of a child, and if it's only used to protect, it cannot be used to recontact a child for any other purpose purpose, and it's not disclosed publicly on the site in any way. Um. Another thing that's important is for the operator, if a child or parent refuses to have verifiable consent to these notices and these agreements and
stuff like that. An operator can choose to discontinue service, um, and then we're giving the attorney a bill, the Attorney general, the ability to enforce the provisions in this bill. And so there's a lot there. Um it's very, there's a lot more technicality, but broad, just paintbrush, um, what we're trying to do is we're trying to protect kids and their data online, um, because the reality is, I mean, I grew up in an age, um, I'm 31, the internet
Zach Gramli
Unverified
10:59
was a wild, wild. for me. Um, people were collecting all my data and they targeting advertising for me when I was a kid and I didn't know any better. Um, I have 2 children, and I'm not going to
let the, let these companies do that to them, so, um, I would love to answer any questions and if you have any comments, please.
Speaker 35
11:17
Yeah, so, uh, the organization that I'm here with, the Arkansas chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, um, really represents over 500 pediatricians here in Arkansas. And so I wanted to give just a little bit of a kind of a real face sort of support for this bill and my comments will also actually pertain to the upcoming bill, House Bill 1726 for CASA as well. So, as you know, pediatricians, we are in
the business of keeping kids healthy, kids of all age groups, and safety is one of the number one things that we really try to impress upon our kids in clinic. So of course we do checkups and doctor visits, but this also includes making sure that kids are safe in all of their everyday activities, and we know that kids these days are spending a ton of time online. So of course, as you said, uh Technology is moving at a lightning speed these days and for the last 25 years, we have not had any new legislation that has pertained to protecting children online. That was before
I had my first flip phone. That was before social media was even invented. So this is something that is really um something that's quite overdue, and we very much commend uh Representative Graham Lick for sponsor and the other sponsors for sponsoring this bill today. So, uh, research shows that children as young as 2 years old are using a mobile device on a daily basis, and I see this every single day in my clinic, and they oftentimes can navigate it even better than their families. And over 90% of 1 year olds have used a mobile device.
97% of teens are using the internet daily and almost half say they use it almost constantly. 95% of teens even have access to a smartphone. So we know that social media isn't all bad. There certainly can be some risks and some benefits. Some of the benefits, of course, for teens can be increased social connection, learning, especially with the increased amount of children who are doing homeschool, those sorts of things, creative expression, civic engagement, and of course helping them to identify their identities as
they're growing older, which are all normal, healthy developmental things for kids. But of course, we also know it comes with some major risks. There can be risks of feeling very. it ive or fear of missing out. There can be risks of problematic use where they're using it for hours on end, wasted time, and of course increasing disturbing inaccurate content, bullying, harassment, hate, hate speech, and even predation. But it's important that as kids connect online for school and recreation, we protect them from the algorithms and the
manipulative design practices that can repeatedly expose them to content, content that impacts their mental health. Right now, many tech companies don't have these protections at all. So for example, one of the things that we see very frequently in our offices children who are searching for information about something. For example, they may search for information about how to eat healthy and then over time it becomes. The platforms introducing more and more information about how to become anorexic. There's even
an entire community called the Pro-ANA community where they teach some of these teens how to become anorexic. We've also seen increase in suicidal ideation and suicidal plans based on some of these platforms, um, I certainly have heard many accounts of teens and even younger who have harmed themselves significantly because of some of the algorithms showing them some ways that they can harm. themselves that they may not have been familiar with before. So, additionally, these manipulative design practices
like continuous scrolling or autoplay videos, they make it hard for kids to control the amount of time they're spending online, and I think we as adults find that as well. This can negatively impact school friendships and family dynamics. So pediatricians have gone all in and helping to research and develop solutions to the negative impacts of technology on kids, and I certainly would recommend everybody visit the National Center of Excellence for Social Media and Youth. mental health, which is housed at the National Academy of Pediatrics. They have a wonderful website that includes
a lot of up to-date evidence-based information about kids and social media. So thankfully these bills that I'm testifying for today, both House Bill 1717 and House Bill 1726 will give kids in Arkansas more online protections as we work toward federal solutions that the Arkansas chapter has also been working with our lawmakers in Washington DC to encourage those to pass as well. So we vote that you guys vote yes to this bill and to help my
patients and all our Kansan kids stay safe online. And it's just very serendipitous that I did not know it, but 3 of my patients are actually here with me today, and I am very proud to say that I'm doing this to help protect them. Thank you. Uh,
Zach Gramli
Unverified
16:01
thank you very much, um, and so with like with that, and I, I would add on some of that stuff is that she spoke about. It's going to be more specifically to 1726, especially some of the algorithm and and uh some of the searching and that stuff, but, um, focusing on 1717
specifically, um, we'd love to answer any questions.
Chair
Unverified
16:20
Other questions by committee, Representative Barringer recognized. Thank
Representative Glenn Barnes
Unverified
16:25
you, Chair. I really like to be. Can you tell me how this would be monitored, um, if there's an infraction, uh, how, how are
Speaker 50
16:36
you monitored? So there's um there's some reporting. Pieces that are in 1726, but if we look at the enforcement
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
16:43
part, uh, specifically, what, what's going to happen is you're going
to have parents who are going to find that find websites their kids are on that aren't aren't meeting expectations and so they're gonna report that to the attorney general and the attorney general will have the enforcement ability, um, and it talks about how, I mean, it's 48, it's page 11 is where we talk about the enforcement piece, um. And the Attorney General, if they find anything that uh was threatens adversely affected by the engagement of a person in practice that violates the provisions of this subchapter. Attorney General may bring civil action on behalf of the residents of the state in a
court of competent jurisdiction too. And so odds are if a large company is existing, there's gonna be more than one person and then they could have a class action lawsuit or uh they can join the practice and force the clients to that rule, obtain damages, restitution, or other compensation on behalf of residents of the state and obtain such other relief as the court finds appropriate. So, um, once, once we see that
Zach Gramli
Unverified
17:39
something's happening, somewhat a user is being affected, that goes onto the AG and the AG will, will, will, uh, protect our citizens. Thank you.
Representative Rick McClure
Unverified
17:48
Representative McClure, you're recognized. Uh, well, first of all, thank you, thank you very much for the bill. This is, this is very much needed. There's no problem with the bill, but, uh, going along with Representative Barnes, the enforcement is a question. If I understood you correctly, this is going to be almost a self-enforcement. By parents monitoring, there's an issue, is that correct? Well, I mean, I, I,
Zach Gramli
Unverified
18:13
I would say so. It's gonna be users, users have, we're gonna have to be
saying if users are being let me see what's the best way to put this. Teens and children are gonna be, you know, online doing the things that they do. Parents right now have no ability to really come back and require the deletion of data or any of these things in, in here. I mean, the reality is like, this is a really, really good bill for parents who want to be engaged and help their kids and protect their kids online, and we're still needing to work towards getting to how to protect, you know, teens and kids who are not, um, or his parents aren't engaged, and this is a way that we're going to try doing that,
but to your point, yeah, I mean, someone has know a crime has been committed before,
Representative Rick McClure
Unverified
18:56
you know, we can go on, um, I understand, and I'm again I'm in total agreement
with the bill. So, For the AG to form a class action lawsuit that's going to take a lot of reporting, a lot of time for that to happen. And then I also see in here where it says the Attorney general may bring a civil action. Can you, can you expand on that a little
bit more. Is this just gonna be a lawsuit or is there a criminal charges? I mean,
Zach Gramli
Unverified
19:27
I would say it's a lawsuit. Um, I, I don't know how we would. I don't know how we could obviously charge a company with a felony or a misdemeanor, but I mean we can come after them for for damages. Thank you. Representative Duke, you're recognized. Thank you,
Representative Hope Duke
Unverified
19:43
Madam Chair, and thank you all for bringing this bill. I do agree that it is something very much needed. I do have a couple of questions if I may have a little bit of leniency. Thank you. So my first
one is, and they've kind of touched on a little bit, um, I'm gonna start with this one. How does this, how does this coordinate or is impacted by whatever is happening at the federal level. I mean, I know we have, I just pulled it up here real quick. I know US Senator Marsha Blackburn is working on the kids' online Safety Act. So as you guys were looking at this and preparing this bill, have you looked at where things are on that, how if if it's going to line up with them, compliment with them,
Zach Gramli
Unverified
20:22
I would say with legislation comes down, then it
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
20:24
would supersede what we're doing here. But we don't know when that's going to happen, you know, it may never happen, obviously they're working through that right now, um, but As far as I'm concerned, if this is stalled and the federal government, then we need to take charge and help our kids out and if they ever come to the aid and start to do these regulations and we have these, these broad swath uh uh tech stuff across the industry where we're protecting kids in this manner, then that, that's great. I'm, I'm encouraged. I'm
Zach Gramli
Unverified
20:50
hoping they get it done as soon as they can,
but until then I'm going to protect my children now.
Speaker 66
20:56
So did you use? Did you look at that bill as far as a
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
21:01
basis for what you're 2.0 and Did you look at that bill as far as a basis for what you're 2.0 andOSA are they started off as almost identical language to the federal legislation that's been stalled and we've made some amendments that are better for, uh, for example, I made some amendments so that state agencies could have some connection with kids, um, as far as like Arkansas game and fish want to be able to um advertise
like an ATV class to a kid because they signed over game and fished. for a fishing license or a hunter's head and stuff like that, um, secondary, uh, institutions or higher, higher education institutions. We gave them access to be able to like, hey, here's classes and stuff like that. Um, so those weren't in the federal legislation,
Zach Gramli
Unverified
21:42
but we put it in state legislation. There's also been a few other amendments, um. To get some people on board, um, that I
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
21:48
think meet the intent of what I'm trying to do and protecting kids and their data,
um, for example, I'm not sure if it's this bill or the next bill, but I worked with some companies that fall under something called a CAA safe harbor, um which uh protects kids' data and they don't really operate like a true social media company and so we were really it's kind of we're not like targeting social media companies specifically, but we're targeting any companies that are not protecting our kids' data and not taking that seriously, so. Yeah, they are very, very substantly similar to the federal legislation that's being drafted. May I say something? The federal
Speaker 35
22:26
legislation did make it through the Senate last summer with an overwhelming bipartisan vote. I think it was like 91 to 3 or something like that, but it has been ever since stalled in the house, and there has really been no sort of murmurs that it may go forward from here and so I agree with you that um taking charge now and then of course if something comes down federally later, obviously that would take precedent, but I think that we cannot rely on them to potentially do this in the next few years when it's much needed. Yeah, I mean, I mean we we got to take care.
Zach Gramli
Unverified
22:52
ourselves. Feds can only help us so much and we don't know when
Representative Hope Duke
Unverified
22:57
that's coming, so I I understand, um, I'll put these both together. So how does this work with Previous legislation from 2023 as far as social media and it's been, I've slept since then, so I don't exactly remember everything that we did, especially once we get out of the house. I don't necessarily know what our senators do with it down there, but how does it work together with that and then also you've got the AG's office referenced in here as far as following up, um, have you spoken with them? Are they on board? Did they have any concerns? Everything great with
Zach Gramli
Unverified
23:27
that. I've heard no concerns from the AG's office to begin with, and with this legislation's been out there since, I think mid December when the or early. January is when this stuff was first filed, um, and I would say with legislation from last, uh last session, it complements it, you know, fill in some gaps and. Thank you. Representative Hen Henley. Hensley Henley, Henley,
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
23:50
sorry, we just had a lady speak at our church Sunday morning and her name was Hensley, and I, I couldn't get which one was
right. Representative Henley, you are recognized for a question. Thank you, Madam Chair. I like the bill, um,
but I have a couple of questions. I want to know if there's anybody with the AG office in the room that could speak to it and You know, being new in the system and the policy uh network. I'm, I've seen a lot of emergency clauses, and I was just um just curious about why this one does not have one when we're talking about our children. Sure, I understand
Zach Gramli
Unverified
24:28
that. So that was the one that's part of the way we got some,
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
24:31
some companies on board with this to give them some time so that they can make substantive changes to how they operate as in their industry. um, so we gave them a one year from the time this. takes takes effect, which will be this summer, so it'll be next summer that everyone's got to be online and in board following these regulations. So, um, yes, I believe it's emergent, but I also believe we've got to give people time to, you know. Follow what we're trying to do here, so.
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
24:58
Are there any other questions by committee? Representative Duffield, you recognized. Um,
Representative Matt Duffield
Unverified
25:05
Representative, how, how does a parent know if their child's dad is being stolen or compromised. I mean, I mean right now, um,
Zach Gramli
Unverified
25:12
they don't unless they are actively involved in, you know, following and engaging in what they, what's going on in their child's life. So, um, and then for that matter, I, I, I mean, I don't know if anything right now that requires a company to say, hey, yeah, we have data on your children, um, but I know you
know when your data is being used because you look something up on Google and then you start getting ads, uh, all over all your social media and all of your phone and all that stuff or I know you get your data collected and used when you search. up hotels or anything like that. I mean, like. kids right now, um, people who are known minors, their data is being collected the exact same way. Ours, ours are, and so we're just trying to make sure that if you are a known miner, your data is not getting collected. Representative Torres, you recognize.
Representative Randy Torres
Unverified
26:01
Thank you, Representative Graham, you know, we, we've just, I think, uh, rep Henley kind of hit on
this a little bit. This is COPA 2.0. So does that mean that operators have already sort of put things in place and in play to be able to comply with it, yeah, I would say so. I mean, it's like, like if,
Speaker 79
26:19
if operators are, and I think a covered platforms and operators are are some of the
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
26:24
language that's used. Uh, yeah, they're already supposed to be doing a lot of this stuff for 13 and under. Um, so So this is in some enhanced
Zach Gramli
Unverified
26:33
protections on them and then um also teens, so 16 and under are, are now going to enjoy some of these protections, OK, and then follow up,
Representative Randy Torres
Unverified
26:41
uh, one other quick question, are, are the age groups, groupings the same and this bill as it is in the federal, the COPA for our understanding, yes, it's under the age
Speaker 68
26:49
of 17. Thank you. Representative McGruder, you're recognized. Thank
Representative Jessie McGruder
Unverified
26:57
you, Madam Chair. Uh, thank you so much for the bill. Uh, I really appreciate what you all are doing as a
parent I can tell you one way I figured out our data was being compromised, but then my son started getting information in the mail, uh, so. As proactive parents, we started telling them to stay off uh websites and stop putting things in, but these data companies are, are coming after our children and they're tracking our information. Uh, my only frustration with the bill and uh I have to be very frank about this. As a father of 6, I can't believe I wouldn't ask to be a co-sponsor of this bill, so I take up.
That's on him. We're gonna blame him for that, but uh I appreciate what y'all are doing like I said, I'm a father of 6 and I'm a teacher and a coach, and I'm concerned about our kids' safety online, so I will be supporting you all in this bill and
Speaker 95
27:47
thank you for the work. Um, I agree with you. I apologize for that and uh
Zach Gramli
Unverified
27:52
I'll try to alleviate that as an amendment over on the Senate side. anyone else who wants on board. Are there any other questions by committee?
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
27:59
Uh, I have one that. Again, it's Not because I'm not thrilled
Speaker 5
28:07
with the bill, just a question on page 6 and on page 8. Who determines
Speaker 1
28:12
what is necessary to fulfill a transaction or what is reasonable under circumstances. I mean, is that something that an? And AG would just determine once a complaint was
Speaker 5
28:22
made. I mean, yeah, I, I, I would say that's probably pretty accurate, um, you know, the
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
28:29
way you're thinking there, um, I mean. I don't know the specifics of that, I'll be honest, um, you
Zach Gramli
Unverified
28:39
know, I, I don't run a tech company. I don't sell things online, but, you know, I think if you're holding data for years on a child, we know something's going wrong, um, so I'm sure the AG could have an opinion on that when when and if they need to do that if there were the complaints at the end,
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
28:53
that would be a part of their determination, and, and I would say too, I mean, it's,
Zach Gramli
Unverified
28:58
it's kind of in the best interest of a um of a company to, you know, they kind of need to dump this data too because they're like paying the. that information so if we say it's illegal to store it, yeah, you need to go ahead and drop it because you're just, it's just
gonna, you're just one more dime you're losing, so thank you. Any other questions by
Speaker 1
29:18
committee? Um OK, since Um, Megan, since you were signed up to speak,
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
29:24
is there anything you would like to add at this point? Not at this point. Thank you. OK, Representative Torres. OK, hey, hold that motion. Um,
is there anyone else in the audience that would like to speak for or against this bill. OK. If you would come and introduce yourself. I'll have you come back up to that. Good. Tell us your name and who
Speaker 104
30:03
you represent, and you'll be recognized. Um Sarah Davis, um, just with Scouting America and Speaking
as a parent, full support of this bill. As a parent also wondering um has had my 18 year old had their identity stolen this year, which is very important thing to be having with this data, making sure they can't mine it and keep it. But how does this go with uh the automated AI chats, is this something that's going to be addressed with those because we have a large prevalence of AI chat platforms that are getting the information from our youth
and they just have to type in free AI chat platform in there. Um Getting information about eventually anorexia or explicit information and it's mentioned about websites. But those can be You know, slightly different or apps or anything like that. I would say um it, it. So
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
31:05
under our definitions, it talks about an operator, um, whose operator means a per a
person who for commercial purposes operates a website or mobile application or online application, so there's gonna be people who run these chat services that they collect, maintain, or either directly through a service provider personal information from or about the users of that website service or application and allows another person to collect personal information directly from users of that website, service, or application, um, and so, so with that, I would say. Um, that because someone is going to be in charge of those programs in some capacity and
Speaker 60
31:45
have access to that data, um, yeah, they would be they would be, uh, under the operator who runs that. OK, just
Speaker 104
31:52
because I know those chat platforms are elsewhere sometimes all over
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
31:55
the world I would agree, um, you know, this is, that's, that's definitely something we need to ensure and I don't know if this is the bill that covers that specifically. I have some more bills coming in a suite, um, and I can
Zach Gramli
Unverified
32:06
see if that's something we can focus on. other bills as well. Thank you.
Chair
Unverified
32:09
Are there any questions for this witness? Thank you for your testimony.
OK, seeing no one else to speak for or against, Representative Graham, like you're recognized to close for your bill.
Speaker 79
32:22
I am closed for my bill, and I would appreciate a motion from Mr. Torres, who thinks he might have one for me. Representative
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
32:32
Tore, Representative Tory, you recognized. We have a motion to pass all in favor say aye opposed no. Congratulations,
Representative Randy Torres
Unverified
32:39
your bill is passed. Thank you. And I believe
Speaker 1
32:42
your next bill, members were going to House Bill 1726, but there is an amendment
Speaker 111
32:48
on this bill that will be coming around to you. Yeah. I'll wait till the amendments out. X. This one define what targeted towards children means. Oh, OK.
Speaker 1
33:58
OK, I believe everyone has the amendment and has had time to read it, so Representative Graham, like, you're recognized to explain
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
34:04
your amendment, so this is pretty simple and just to give you a little context, I had someone from X reach out yesterday and um they were like, hey, yeah, we're supportive of 1717. We love what you're trying to do. 1726, we had a question and it seems to them they're like the targeted towards miners part wasn't just very, very specific on what that meant definitionally and so this is some language
Zach Gramli
Unverified
34:26
that um that Helps us target towards minors.
Um, so that's what this does. Are there any questions on
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
34:32
the amendment? OK, what's the will of the committee?
Speaker 1
34:41
Thank you. Have a motion to adopt the amendment. All in favor say aye. Oppose no. Congratulations, you've adopted your amendment and you're recognized to present House Bill 1726 as amended. All right,
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
34:52
uh, Zach Gramli state representative district 50 Central Fort Smith. Let's go ahead and introduce yourself again. And Doctor Megan Rip from
Speaker 35
35:00
Central Arkansas, um, with the Arkansas chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Thank you
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
35:06
for your time today, committee. 1726, um, is a complimentary bill to 1717. Again, this is mirrorings very similar to some federal legislation that's stalled. Um, this is the COSA, which is kidsline Safety Act. And it creates a duty of care that requires technology platforms to prevent heightened risk of harm to minors in the design of their products. A couple of big parts, um, harm is going to be really anything that
affects negatively the mental health, including anxiety, depression, eating disorders, substance use and suicidal behaviors. Harm can also include addiction-like behavior, violence and bullying, predatory marketing or financial harms, sexual exploitation and abuse and promotion of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and gambling. Um, there's also some Some details about the bill that goes into the safeguard of platforms that must be used to protect kids online, and I'll go into it shortly. And then I think one of the big pieces it creates this online safety council,
which for me is important because this is like, as we've kind of discussed, there's nothing that's really happened in this space for a long time, and we need a group of people who are going to kind of hold our feet to the fire as legislators to ensure that we're continuing to keep up with what's going on in this space. The reality is it's in every interest of these companies to ensure that they get as much time out of our kids and us as possible so that they can make as much money as possible, um, and so I want to make sure that we're gonna stay up to date to ensure that we're doing everything we
Zach Gramli
Unverified
36:32
can to protect kids. Um, anything to add to that? Yeah, I
Speaker 35
36:36
think that's one of my favorite parts about this bill is the establishment of the kids online safety council and something that does sort of go above and beyond the original COSA bill from the federal, um, uh, standpoint. So, um, because this is something that's not just going to be affecting us today, but for years to come. And so having this online safety council that has representatives from across the board, including professionals, educators, privacy experts, parent and youth representatives, etc. would be extremely helpful. OK, so once again, I'm going to
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
37:04
get a little bit more, a little bit more nuanced, so we know broadly what this bill does. Um, I'm gonna go get straight into um the duty of care on the 1503 part, um, and we've already discussed this, but to take reasonable measures to avoid heightened risk of harm to minors from those listed mental health disorders, um. Now, to be clear, um, this ensures that companies aren't just giving this information out to kids. If a kid goes out and searches it up on their own, we can't stop that. But if, if like
if they were to go into a library and just open a book up, that's the information that they're going to find, but we're not gonna be like we're gonna require social media companies are going to do whatever they can to protect kids from just, you know, stumbling upon the information, um. It's like it's going to allow some of the safeguards, it's going to provide the minor with easy to use safeguards that will limit the ability to communicate with others, uh, prevent other users on a platform from viewing personal information, um, limit the feature to incorporate, limit the features uh that increase features to incorporate
use, um, some examples of that would be like automatic play when you're going, when you're when you've been scrolling on Facebook for, you know, uh videos for like an hour, you know, like you just kind of there's a continuous scroll, it's going to at least make a stop and they have to actually inter They can't just let the mindless scroll. Um, It's gonna allow some personalized recommendation systems that limit access to certain categories. It's going to restrict geolocation of certain info to other users. An example of this is if you have um a platform like Snapchat, and I have Snapchat it's, it's a
nice thing, but you can see where other individuals are on the map. I don't think we should have a map that shows where children are for anyone who happens to be friends with them, um, it and it's going to provide notice if there is any GO location tracking so it can be prevented. There's also going to have to be easy to use options to delete any Minor information and options that can allow someone to limit time on a platform, um. And if someone is a known minor, uh, the default settings must be at the most protective levels. Um, it also has to be access,
uh, accessible and easy to use for parents to be able to change settings, um, these settings uh have to allow a parent to have the ability to manage a minor's privacy and account settings and safeguard that allow parents to view privacy and account settings and then be able to change those settings. They also have the ability to restrict financial transactions and view time metrics and restrict. And so if you have a child who's ever spent a few too many dollars on a particular game, you're gonna have the ability to restrict those financial transactions in the future. Clear notice of the settings and what settings have
been applied for parents. The covered platform should also provide easy to use ways to submit reports to the company for issues. There is a point of contact. You can talk with that company and the confirmation of a receipt. And then it requires these uh companies to to have internal processes to deal reports based on the company's size. Some companies operate quicker, some companies will have a little bit more time based on the number of users that they have on their platform. Um, but if there is an imminent threat in the report, it's going to require that the company interact with that as
soon as possible to protect the safety of our miners. Um, if the child is a no minor. Um, there cannot be the, the company cannot facilitate ads of drugs, tobacco, gambling, or alcohol. They must implement safeguards and controls by information of control options and clear and conspicuous manners. They have to consider the age and capacity needs of kids or whoever the user is, example, there are websites that are definitely directed towards much, much younger audiences and the most positive way PBS Kids is directed towards one audience while other websites are directed towards other
audiences and so uh websites are allowed to take that into consideration when they're making some of these, some of these. Things. These also have to be easy to change though, um, info has to be in the same language and form and manner as used by parents and minors. So if there's an offshore company who has a website in there it's targeted, um. They can't have it in a language that is not known or used by what is going to be used by the minor. If it's in English, then all this stuff has to also be in English. Uh, this does not prevent a platform from taking reasonable measures to block, detect, or prevent the
distribution of unlawful, obscene, or harmful stuff for kids, um, or block filter spam or prevent crimes. It requires a disclosure of it does not necessarily require the disclosure of browsing history messages, uh, it can prevent ads if uses in the. Oh, it can't. prevent ads, um, if it's not using just just super specific data so you can still do some advertisements to children, um, in as much as if the only de you use is, you know what language they speak, you know what city they're in, and you know what age they are, but you know, no
we're specifically, so, um, hey, there is uh some musical coming to Fort Smith that your kid might like, that kind of ad would be OK, but if it's more targeted than that, we're going to start having some issues. It's going to prohibit the integration with, it does not necessarily prohibit the integration of third party systems, as long as they also meet the safeguards and notice, and there is notice to the user of the integration. Um, moving on to 1505. Talking more about the personalized recommendations.
Uh, this is like how we get, you know, the things we want to see online, um, before, if there's personalized recommendation system on the platform before there's a registration of a user or the purchase of the product, there must be a notice of the policies or practice of personal data of minors, how to access that data and the parental settings. They also have to have notice of terms of use, notice of how a personalized recommendation system is used and how to control that system or opt out. If there's facilitating of ads in this, um, any ads must have
the name of the product, the service or the brand being advertised if the individual specific, why this ad was advertised to this kid and noticed that this is an advertisement. The reality is our younger kids can't necessarily tell what's an ad and what's reality. They just don't cognitively they are not there. And so if you're going to be sending some sort of ad to a child, they have to know that this is an advertisement, this isn't reality. There also has to be a notice of collection of retention of data and safeguards, how to access parental tools and this information has to be in the same language as the kid and the user.
There's an enforcement piece and part 1506, where the Attorney General is allowed anything he's allowed to use under the deceptive Trade Practices Act to enforce this stuff. Um, now there is a uh opportunity for platforms to be able to fix their mistake before they get into hot water. The AG will provide notice and then they will have 90 days to fix, fix the problem, um, and then no more enforcement will be had. Uh, let's talk about online Kid There's an enforcement piece and part 1506, where the Attorney General is allowed anything he's allowed to use under the deceptive Trade Practices Act to enforce this stuff. Um, now there is a uh opportunity for platforms to be able to fix their mistake before they get into hot water. The AG will provide notice and then they will have 90 days to fix, fix
the problem, um, and then no more enforcement will be had. Uh, let's talk about online kids safety council. This is 1507. Uh, there's gonna be 99 members appointed in a variety different ways, um, and their goal is going to be identify risk, recommend measures, recommend methods, and recommend best practices so that we can continue to protect our kids. Uh, I think one of the more confusing parts of the bill is section 1508, when we talk about the filter bubble transparency requirements, um, and so it's, I'm gonna discuss this, I haven't discussed a whole lot of definitions, but I think these are important just because they're pretty, um, it's some pretty interesting language. So there's something called an algorithmic ranking system. OK? This is how a covered platform decides what you will see. It
can lead you down a rabbit hole of content and adjacent content that you may or may not want to see. It's not necessarily a bad thing. We as adults can handle that a little. little bit better. There's two different kinds of input systems. There's an input transparent algorithm, and this is you are getting the information that you've asked for. So if I go online and I want to watch fishing videos, I get information that is about fishing videos and adjacent to phishing videos. I know exactly why I'm getting the information that I'm getting. That's an input transparent algorithm. The other kind of algorithm is an opaque algorithm. Opaque, just like it sounds, is not very
clear. It's very opaque. You don't necessarily know why you're getting a certain certain content, and is it is it isn't clear and It's just not very, it's a very complex answer for if you got the answer, why you're getting this content. Um, it could be content that you didn't necessarily ask for, that's just being thrown in front of you, um, opaque or bad for a variety of reasons. Um, it can be based, it can be biased information, it can be discriminatory, and there's no way to fix it because you don't even know why you were sent this. There's a lack of accountability to why children get the uh the content that they
are getting. They may use children data and unclear ways. They can be pushing just outright lies or harmful content, and there's little trust in the whole, the whole, the whole like opaque algorithm them. And so, We're gonna make it, if you agree with me, to make it unlawful to use an opaque algorithm and may, unless it meets the sections, B2, expectations, and an upstream parking. So let's talk about B2A. Uh, you have to have notice of an opaque algorithm for the first time in use, and this has to be updated every 6 months,
um, and the, and the update has to talk about some of the biggest parts of the, how the algorithm is used, how the data is used or collected, what can be opted out, um. And it has to make an input transparent algorithm available. You cannot just force an opaque algorithm on children, there has to be an input, transparent one, so that that we can protect our kids, um, from the stuff that they may, we may or may not want them to see. Um Let's see with the, uh, there's stuff about search syndication contract, which is the
connection between an ad agency and a website, um, so that if a child is looking up certain things, how a er, have you ever looked up something on a website and you'll see ads in your search engine. That's what the search syntegation contract does. Um, so how that has to operate when we're working with kids' data, um, we, it cannot affect the um Or cost to us or more for us requiring this level of expectations for a tech companies and then um
There is a little bit of stuff again in 1509, uh, giving the Attorney General some abilities to find my page here. For the construction of of all this, um, and how an attorney general can rely on competent empirical evidence, taking into account the totality of circumstances, including without limitation and consideration of whether the operators available technology exercise reasonable care, so we give him pretty a lot of leniency on saying, hey, did they, these people, were they trying to do the right
thing or were they trying to be actively um Uh, not doing what they were supposed to do. And then there's a, there's a list of uh some not some kind of carve outs for different companies and organizations, um, as long as they're complying, um. And I'd like to answer any questions if I could. Are there questions by committee? Representative Duke, you're recognized. Um, thank you, Madam
Representative Hope Duke
Unverified
47:55
Chair. So my questions relate to the council. Um, which, by
the way, thank you for bringing this bill. I do appreciate um your work and efforts on this and no question at all about your heart for kids and what you're trying to do here. Um, so I, my question I get a little bit is, is it typical? To have the Department of Commerce or these departments to appoint. The members to these types of committees, or is that typically structured a different way. It's on my radar because we're restructuring all kinds of things, right, right now,
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
48:28
so I know we've eliminated another councils and commissions this year, and I know there's a lot of restructuring, um, I can say specifically to that, but under whys and the commerce is because these companies are obviously uh operating and making a lot of money here and so they're going
Zach Gramli
Unverified
48:43
to be the ones that operate mostly in this space, um, but I couldn't answer that question specifically, Representative Duke. OK,
Representative Hope Duke
Unverified
48:49
because that, that does I have concern around how that, where that council is not just
housed, but the appointment process of it, if this is the best place for it to be, and the best person to make it because yes, it is dealing with money, but it's also dealing a lot with the kids and what's best for them and how to protect them. Also on the appoint on the um If I may, I'm sorry, follow up if I may, um, there doesn't any, I don't see anything in here that says how long they serve. Who they report to. Because it does seem like we
should have some clarifications on how long each member serves. And what I've seen in most statutes that we're pretty specific on where they come from, and there's a lot of generalities on where they can come from. And again, where their information they're collecting, where does it go? Would I, would you agree that maybe we need to have some clarity on that and maybe also might consider to have the technology committee, somehow involved in this because that is definitely maybe more than members of some of the members here I think it's good for us to
Speaker 122
50:00
have that feedback. No, I actually, um, I think there may have been an oversight for me. No, I agree with you there.
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
50:07
Um, I definitely think we needed to this, the information needs to go and be reported out and we can get some more into the technicalities of, um, you know, how these like the terms and stuff of these members and. Um, I'd
Zach Gramli
Unverified
50:16
be, if we could get this out and we can amend it over on the Senate side, I'd love to do some work on that. Thank you. Representative Torres, you
Representative Randy Torres
Unverified
50:26
recognize, quick question, Representative Graham like what counts as knowing a user is a minor.
On page 4 it talks about that. I mean if we're not doing age verification, our company is going to be so we didn't know and are they gonna be yeah, I
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
50:41
would say that's where it's the um I forget the term. Um, Oh, what is the term? What is the term, um, it's, it's where what it would do is if, and it's in the other
bill might be the better way to it's the
verifiable consent piece and so at the end of the day, anyone can lie, right? But if, if I click a button and say no, I'm an adult or no, I'm a minor if they know I'm a minor and that you're still doing the wrong thing. uh, to your point though, yeah, no, I agree, I agree. We don't have the verifiable like the age verification stuff and, and, and I, at one point I'd like to get to that point, right,
Zach Gramli
Unverified
51:23
but we're not there yet, so, so. Just on that, I would say that from my experience in
Speaker 32
51:28
Washington DC sort of with COPA 2.0 and
Speaker 35
51:33
COSA. I don't think that there would be any argument that these companies could say that we did not know this was a minor. These companies 100% know when it's a minor to the point where they can almost pinpoint the exact age of, of the child they can pinpoint the age of the child, they can pinpoint whether it's a male or a female, they generally can pinpoint a lot of other very specific characteristics of this child, so I don't think that there would be any. with saying, hey, we, we actually didn't know that this was that this was a child, they
Speaker 69
51:59
very much know, but based on these very specific algorithms
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
52:05
and again, so if they have this information and it can be reasonably known that this
Speaker 60
52:11
person is a minor. You know, they're, they're operating in a way they should
Representative Paul Childress
Unverified
52:19
not be operating and they. Yeah. Representative Childers, you recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. Representative Gramlich on safeguards under number 5 and 6. Is talking about location, uh, location information on the minor. Can you give me a page on that real quick? Uh.
7 on my phone it's showing 7 of 19. It's under. The safeguard portion. It's got, OK, I see it. I'm, I'm just thinking about Life360, and I don't think that's what this is pertaining to, but I just wanna make sure because that's my favorite app to keep up with my kids and I'm glad my mom didn't have it when I was a kid because I would have been in a lot of trouble. I just want to make sure that don't affect parents tracking their kids and making sure they're safe and I, I would say that's where
Speaker 79
53:03
there's a, you know, you have that piece of notification
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
53:07
of known, uh, if you, if you are geolocation, there has to be known consent of that, and it's not really providing it to other users on the platform like it's only. The like the parent knows and anyone the parent allows to know, but like, uh, Joe Blow down the street has doesn't have access to that information, so that wouldn't be
Chair
Unverified
53:23
disclosed to other users on the platform. Would you agree? Yeah. Representative Eaton, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh,
Representative James Eaton
Unverified
53:34
Representative Grahamick, appreciate your work on this. I know we spoke a little bit
yesterday, but maybe the group would benefit from just some of the people that have given you blowback, maybe could you walk us through? I know Meta, people like that that you've talked to you've gotten comfortable with. I've I've
Speaker 79
53:49
talked to a number of groups, um, some have been more friendly than others. I have made a number of amendments for
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
53:55
a lot of people to get, I mean, especially the timeline, uh, I know one time Amazon said there's no way they can work with this stuff, and then about 3 weeks. Play it's like, yeah, just give us a little time, we can make it happen. Um, I, what, what we're getting to the point where
companies are just like trying to provide amendment to gut the bill. Um, they want to take out anything about the compulsive usage they want to take stuff out about mental harm to kids, um, so like, like what we're doing is we're, we know, they know that they're, that we're gonna hurt them because they're not gonna be able to continue to get our data from kids, um, I know, and I did mention in the beginning, while you have a website like X who Their goal or coming like X who's not going after kids and they're like, no, this is great, we love this. We, we're not
targeting these kids anyways. This is something we can do. We want to support you, um, so. Um, I'm working, I've like just off top of my head, um, talked with YouTube and we're having some conversations seeing if we can get us in a better place with them because they operate in a little bit different space than just straight up social media. I've worked with video game companies, I've worked with Google. I've worked with Meta, I've worked with X, I've worked with um who else? uh, some telecommunication companies. I've worked with Apple, Verizon, um.
Maybe one or two others. It's been a, it's been a long 2 months. So, you know, I've, I've had a lot of stake stakeholders come on and we've, we've had discussions and well I've tried to get people in places where they can be good, but I'm starting to get to
Zach Gramli
Unverified
55:25
the point where I'm kind of standing firm. I'm like, yeah, we're gonna have some substantive stuff
Representative Randy Torres
Unverified
55:33
in this bill that's gonna move the needle. Representative Torre, as you recognized, so quick question, you know, some of the bigger platforms, you know, have a lot of capabilities to adjust to meet the standards and I don't
even know if there are smaller operators can they keep
up with this, or are we gonna, I would say so and again they
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
55:48
have a year and a half before all this stuff comes online, so,
um, if they, I understand if they can't do it tomorrow. But they have plenty of time to figure out how to get to dig through the plant level and it's again it's just like how they're gathering data, you know, they're just gonna turn this part, these parts of the algorithm off. It's like, yeah, we're not gonna collect data on this stuff, and if we know they're under this age, we can't
collect this data. Um, do you have anything to add on that? OK. Like Again, these are tech companies, they're hiring very, very professional, very well educated people who have a lot of experience in this place. I think we're kind of operating kind of on the back of our feet because most of us are not experts in this space, um, but we're not, we're not silly, we see what's happening. We see the effects that's happening happening on our kids. We see the effects that's happening even on us. I mean, like almost everyone in this room has a cell phone, has social media on their phone, and it's not saying it's
a bad thing, right? But we're choosing to interact with that. I, I tell people all the. time, like this thing here. is the only thing that calls for me. I can, I can pick up a, you know, go play video games and I have to go choose to interact with the video game. If I want to pick up a book and read, I have to choose to interact with the book and read. This is the only thing that if I sit down, it yells at me, says, hey, look at me. Hey, hey, I need you. And then once I get on, it's going to do everything it can to ensure, and not it, but the tech, the the software on it is
gonna do everything I can, it can to ensure I stay on as long as possible. I'm an adult, I choose. interact with that. A 1314, etc. who does not have the cognitive and developmental ability to really understand how this is not good for their development and how these companies are using them for money. That's what we're trying to protect here and so to your point, I hear you, but if they're gonna make money off our kids, they better get in line and they better figure it out. Follow up. Yeah, you're right. Again, I agree with you. I just
Representative Randy Torres
Unverified
57:46
want to make sure it's feasible for them to be able to comply, they
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
57:49
can figure out how to how to collect all this information they can figure out what they can and can't
Speaker 141
57:56
collect. I have a question on page 9. Um Where it says if a covered
Speaker 1
58:02
platform uh line 9 if a covered platform knows an individual's a mine or the covered platform shall not facilitate advertising to the minor of
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
58:07
and then narcotic drugs, tobacco. Is there a reason sexually explicit material is not listed there? It's a great question. It may
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
58:13
be an oversight, but it is featured earlier in the bill, so, um,
Zach Gramli
Unverified
58:17
that may have been an amendment issue where there was an accident. I
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
58:22
was obviously no intention of I didn't figure and I wondered if even it was because it was mirrored from federal, but again, like you've said, I'd rather add it and have more protection for our. Arkansas kids, even if the federal left it off, so that was, that was
Speaker 79
58:35
my only question. No, I can, I can, uh, definitely make that amendment. Thank you. Any other questions by committee? her.
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
58:48
Right, OK, so you're the only one still signed up to speak on this bill. Do you have anything else you'd like to add? No, ma'am. Thank you. OK, thank you. Is there anyone else in the room that would like to speak for or
against this bill. OK, then Representative Graham, you are recognized
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
59:05
to close for your bill. I appreciate your time today. I think this is really going to get us to move the needle and protecting our kids and helping to really, really start changing how our kids interact with these platforms and maybe even we'll get some good mental health
outcomes once it's all said and done, so, um, appreciate your time and, and thank you. We
Speaker 75
59:26
have a motion do pass as amended, right? So all in favor, say I. Opposed no.
Speaker 1
59:31
Congratulations yourel has passed. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. OK, committee, we are going to move back up the agenda to you with Senate. OK, with Senate Bill 339 and
Representative, I'm sorry, Vice Chair Bentley is going to present that. You'll recognize yourself, introduce yourself,
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
1:00:05
you'll be recognized. Thank you, Chair, and thank you committee uh
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:00:08
State Representative Mary Bentley District 54, um, Senate Bill 339 just correct, uh, an error that somehow was made in a bill, the name actually, um, some of the
new members may not know that members of this committee are, I'll wait till that, OK, so some members of this committee will be on the child maltreatment investigation oversight committee, and we need the chairman of that chosen every 2 years and not every year because this committee lasts for 2 years. So I was just getting back where it originally was. Uh, so, actually it's going back to electing that chairman every 2 years and not every year, and that's really all the bill does, so any questions I'll be happy to take them. Representative Gonzalezor than you recognize. Yes, um, thank
Representative Justin Gonzales
Unverified
1:00:51
you, and, and since I am new, I, I'll have some questions. I, I appreciate you bringing that up. So currently who are the members? It says OK on line 24 it says the legislative members. I Could, could you
Speaker 146
1:01:05
pull your mic a little closer, please?
Representative Justin Gonzales
Unverified
1:01:08
Thank you. In in Line 24, number 3, inserted legislative members so are. Are they all currently those on the committee are all
legislative members or who is the makeup of the committee. Thank you. I will
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:01:27
let, um, actually, Chairman, would you go over all the members that are on the committee because I don't know or Blake can tell us. Blake's gonna get
Representative Justin Gonzales
Unverified
1:01:37
that information for you. Will that work? Yes, I actually, I was just wondering, are all the members, maybe this is an easier way to the child maltreatment investigations oversight committee. Is that only include legislative members or are there outside there there are outside, they
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:01:52
are outside members on that list. Blake can help clear some of that
Speaker 159
1:01:58
up, yeah. Members, just as a quick explanation, the child maltreatment investigations oversight committee uh to legislation. Some of the members are directors of certain agencies such as Miss Tiffany Wright as the director of DCFS. She is on the committee as per legislation. There are some legislative members that are appointed and they confirmed by both the chairs of the House and
Senate Aging Committees, um, that that is taken up during the interim. There's some members that are appointed by the governor and so on. I can get that information to everybody, but there's, there's multiple positions on that and they're filled up in different ways. Thank you. That's, you've answered my question. Thank you. Yeah, that's
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:02:38
fine. I should have looked at that before I presented
the bill. I apologize. Any other questions by committee? OK, um, I don't
Speaker 1
1:02:45
believe we have anyone signed up to speak
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
1:02:50
for or against this bill. Is there anyone in the audience that
would like to? OK, then Representative Bentley, you're recognized to close for your bill. I'm closed and I make a motion to pass.
Speaker 1
1:03:04
We have a motion to pass. All in favor say aye. I opposed? No. Congratulations, your bill is passed. And now onto House Bill 1669. Thank you, Chairman. Thank you committee.
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:03:14
Um, this is a bill that actually I've been working on for 2 years. I try to get it ready
for last session, did not. It's very important bill to make
sure that we have in my district, I'm sure in your district as well, you have some groups that are doing phenomenal job. We have, I have Second Chance Ranch in my district that's an amazing job as a faith-based uh foster child program. We have adoption agencies that are faith-based and doing a phenomenal job here in our state and right now there's nothing in this bill that DHS is not currently doing. There's, we are fully complying with it and and uh. And what they're doing, but we don't have it in statute. So even though it's in their programs, they're doing this, I want to make sure before we leave, um, as members of this committee for we have a new
governor that we have these things in statute. I just really what it does, it protects a person's individual religious freedom to make sure that they're not discriminated against because they are following their religious held beliefs. So unfortunately in some other states, they are being discriminated against, folks that are strongly held religious beliefs that do not, uh, go along with genderirma care and those kind of things are no longer able to be foster parents or adoptive parents. In other states, and I don't want that to happen here. We know that foster parents, uh, that hold religious beliefs and adoptive parents doing a phenomenal job with their kids.
We need as many people being foster parents as we can adoptive parents as we can. I don't want to discriminate against anyone, so. This is really just a proactive thing and making sure that what we already do currently is put into statute. It's not left for something to get changed easily as a As we have new members in the body. So again, that's really all this bill is very clear. If you look on page, I think the whole um look on page 2 lines 24 to 27 pretty much states what the bill's doing the general assembly declares that the Keep Kids First act is necessary to ensure that faith-based adoption
of foster care providers remain free to serve children in need and work with the state of Arkansas to find loving forever homes for children. Um, there's no opposition from the governor's office, from DHS they're full in support of what we're doing here and with that, I'll take any questions. I know it's a long bill. It's really just put into statute what we're currently doing in practice. Representative
Representative Glenn Barnes
Unverified
1:05:18
Barnes should recognize. Thank you, thank you, chair. Uh, when you say faith based, uh, can you elaborate on that when you say is that all inclusive of any
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:05:28
Any doctrine, any belief. Yes sir, it is, yeah, well, we have a constitutional right to have religious freedom in this in this nation, so we have people that are, you know, I know ones that mine are that are Christian, great Christian groups doing a phenomenal job in my district, and I want to make sure that they're their faces are held up. We have, you know, constitutional amendment to make sure we have religious freedoms. So we're not, we're to discriminate against discriminate against anyone on their religious deeply held religious beliefs. follow up What, what if it goes against
Um It goes against law. Well, that wouldn't, there's nothing we're doing and the hair goes against law. This is the AG's office has looked at this and
faith. Religion. You have to be, I don't, couldn't answer a theoretical question, had to give me something specific that you're, you're thinking about, sorry. OK. I won't go that far out
Representative Glenn Barnes
Unverified
1:06:23
there. Thank you. Representative McClory recognized. Can I attempt to answer the
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
1:06:29
question? If you can do so as you're asking a question. Well, OK, I have a question that's similar, so. I agree with everything in the bill. I think my concern is similar to Representative Barnes. So let's say my deeply held religious belief also says we don't take children to the doctor when they're sick. We believe God will heal them. That's not, that's not covered in this bill because those protections are still in place
with DHS that was my point. That's gonna be taken care of in another situation, and that's a a whole other issue, correct, correct, correct. Yeah, the I have
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:07:10
the child's, yeah, OK. Nothing is going to go against the protection of the child. Thank
Speaker 1
1:07:16
you for the question. Nothing that would. Infringe upon child endangerment, which is already covered anywhere else, even if it is your religious belief, it would be covered
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
1:07:23
somewhere else. Correct. OK, thank you. Representative Gonzalez Worthy, you're recognized. Yes, thank you. I, um.
Representative Justin Gonzales
Unverified
1:07:32
Kind of similar to what you'll have to I can't hear you. Similar to your question, um, so can you, I'm sorry,
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:07:38
you have to get up to your mic, so. Just pull it. It's OK. It won't break. Thank you. I'm sure people have to learn how to pull
Representative Justin Gonzales
Unverified
1:07:47
that out. Actually, I didn't know this did that, OK, until now, so thank you. Um, so, As far as the religious beliefs, so what, what are some examples
of religious beliefs that would, I guess, cause a um an agency or um Parents, potential foster care parents from Not wanting particular groups of children, for example, yeah, again, I think if you, if you read the bill, it's pretty, pretty specific in there, but
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:08:20
again, I'm just, we don't have this issue in Arkansas at all. Currently our department's doing a phenomenal job. We have no issues here whatsoever. We're just putting it to statute what is their current practice here in the state of Arkansas. I'm
just going on what's going on in other states and other states. Christians that do not believe that we should call a boy a girl or a girl a boy that they don't, they're gender former care, but those parents that have deeply have religious beliefs, they're no longer in those states able to be foster parents or adoptive parents or forbidding them for being, I'm just saying my brother and sister have been foster parents forever, but their state changed their laws so they can no longer be foster parents, even though they're a great home and do great things for kids, they can no longer be foster parents. So I wanted us in Arkansas to be proactive and
to prevent that from happening in our
Representative Justin Gonzales
Unverified
1:09:05
state. OK, so that would mean just for clarification, so um Um, foster parents essentially need to foster parents in Arkansas, um, would be able to adopt any child. Any child regardless of religious background, etc. Well, you know, our judges here make the final say on any adoption
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:09:26
case, so it's going to, it's a whole, a whole huge process and this does not supersede that
Representative Justin Gonzales
Unverified
1:09:35
process at all, OK, I was just concerned. I know that there are, you know, very held religious beliefs when it comes to the LGBTQ community and so I just wondered if children who were um that are classified in that category, would they still be able
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:09:52
to be adopted, of course, it's not, again, there's nothing precluding that from happening at all. Thank you. Any other questions by committee?
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
1:10:12
up. Um, Mr. Tribble is signed up to speak against the bill, if you will introduce
Jp Tribble
Unverified
1:10:22
yourself, you're recognized. Good morning, Madam Chair and committee, um, my name is JP Tribble. I'm an adoption attorney here in Little Rock have been practicing an adoption for quite a few years now. Um I am principally against this
bill, speaking broadly. Uh, I do agree with Representative Bentley that the bill doesn't really do anything that's not already in practice. However, the way the bill puts the practice into words seems a bit onerous. I have some questions of my own, uh, regarding the mechanism that the bill provides, uh, I have I've noticed in the definition section that
Under it begins on Page 3 line 31 says state government means, and then it proceeds to list under subdivision A, B, etc. The varying definitions of state government, and it says, for example, under 2E state government means Any private person suing or attempting to enforce.
A law rule or regulation adopted by the state or political subdivision under the state. If I'm an adoptive parent suing the state. To enforce a law or rule. It confuses me as how I would be considered the state. The state is a defendant in the case, and under this bill, I'm now the state is the plaintiff. So I don't really understand. How that would be considered the state, um,
And really, I think the my overarching issue with the bill itself is Uh, that The, if there's a conflict between the laws of the state of Arkansas and the religious beliefs of the respective adoptive parents or the foster parents. My reading of this is that the religious belief of the foster parents would supersede that of the state because it precludes
them or precludes the state rather from bringing cause of action against them. And uh taking any recourse. So if you have uh Representative Gonzalez Worthen's comments and another I forgot who it was, but another representative brought up this issue with the conflict between religious beliefs and the law, if, for example, a person belongs to a faith that has beliefs that are inconsistent with, for example,
DHS, DHS's placement practices, my understanding is the religious beliefs would take precedence if, for example, corporal punishment is a commonly accepted religious belief in a particular faith, then the child may be subject to child abuse, and the state can do nothing about that. And On that note, to me it seems a slippery slope between that and interfering and dependency,
neglect definitions, uh, on the basis of religion, I think we have a very good example in the state of Arkansas of faith-based organization who has been a foul of their own faith, and that's the Lord's ranch, who have been sued by many, many people. I believe they ceased operations in 2016. But they have been sued by many plaintiffs being the children that uh were placed at that facility.
And were sexually abused and were beaten and punished for reporting abuse. So My overarching concern is I don't see that this bill reconciles the conflict between a person's right to a religious belief. And the child's right to not be abused and I think that can be extended to
A mental health professionals assessment of what's in the child's best interest. Um, in particular, uh, Representative Gonzalez were then brought up in the case of LGBT children being one of Many categories where it might not be in that child's best interest to be placed with a particular family. The child's well-being seems overlooked in this entire bill. And I would like to point out in constitutional law, yes, there
is a First Amendment right to freedom of religion, but uh that is not an unfettered right, there are many religious practices that have been curtailed because they are deemed Uh, against the law, and there are numerous United States Supreme Court cases on that effect. For example, you can't smoke peyote because you, you're, uh, Religion believes that that's part of the religious.
The religious ceremony. It's still not permitted under law. So I'll rest with that. I'm open to any questions by the committee, but I express my deep concerns that The Right to religion here seems to trample over their requirements of law and um Considering the best interest of the child at question. Thank you.
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
1:16:34
Are there questions by committing for this witness? See Nunn, thank you for your testimony.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I see no one else signed up. Is there anyone here that wishes to speak for or against this bill? OK. Representative Bentley. You are
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:16:51
recognized the clothes for your bill. Thank you, calls. I can assure you that if anything, Mr. Tribble had said was true that DHS would right here at the
end of the table speaking against this bill. Absolutely everything he says is completely inaccurate and untrue. This bill will do nothing to put the interests of
the child ahead of some of his religious beliefs to make sure the children are protected. And again, I promise you this has been vetted by DHS, the Attorney General's office and the governor's offices, anything that he said was true. This bill would not be where it is today, but everything what he says is inaccurate and not correct with this bill. We will protect the children. Nothing in this bill will have. put our children at risk for sexual assault or abuser or an infraction anyway. I'm insulted with his comments and so I would just say they're completely inaccurate with this bill. It's been very well vetted for 2 years before I presented it, so with that, um,
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
1:17:34
I'll make a motion to pass on the bill. We have a motion to pass. All in favor say aye. I
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:17:43
opposed no. The eyes have it. Congratulations, you've passed your bill. Thank you, Chairman. Thank you committee. I appreciate your time today. Yes, thank you for your wisdom and your work today. We are adjourned.
Agenda
REGULAR AGENDA
HB1082 Gramlich TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS CHILDREN AND TEENS’ ONLINE PRIVACY PROTECTION ACT.
HB1083 Gramlich TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS KIDS ONLINE SAFETY ACT.
HB1669 Bentley TO CREATE THE KEEP KIDS FIRST ACT; AND TO PROVIDE FOR PROTECTIONS FROM DISCRIMINATION FOR ADOPTION AND FOSTER CARE PROVIDERS ACTING IN ACCORDANCE WITH SINCERELY HELD RELIGIOUS BELIEFS.
SB339 A. Clark CONCERNING THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE CHILD MALTREATMENT INVESTIGATIONS OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE.
HB1704 Andrews TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING CHILD CUSTODY IN MATTERS WHERE A PARENT IS A FIRST RESPONDER.
HB1717 Gramlich TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS CHILDREN AND TEENS' ONLINE PRIVACY PROTECTION ACT.
HB1726 Gramlich TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS KIDS ONLINE SAFETY ACT.
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — AGING, CHILDREN AND YOUTH, LEGISLATIVE & MILITARY AFFAIRS- HOUSE, Mar 12, 2025 | Agenda | 1 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Speaker 1
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
Speaker 8
Chair
Unverified
Representative Wade Andrews
Unverified
Speaker 14
Gina Indelicao
Unverified
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
Megan Wren
Unverified
Speaker 35
Speaker 28
Zach Gramli
Unverified
Representative Glenn Barnes
Unverified
Speaker 50
Representative Rick McClure
Unverified
Representative Hope Duke
Unverified
Speaker 66
Representative Matt Duffield
Unverified
Representative Randy Torres
Unverified
Speaker 79
Speaker 68
Representative Jessie McGruder
Unverified
Speaker 95
Speaker 5
Speaker 104
Speaker 60
Speaker 111
Speaker 122
Speaker 32
Speaker 69
Representative Paul Childress
Unverified
Representative James Eaton
Unverified
Speaker 141
Speaker 75
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
Representative Justin Gonzales
Unverified
Speaker 146
Speaker 159
Jp Tribble
Unverified