II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 134 

To arrange for the National Academy of Sciences to study the impact of 

violent video games and violent video programming on children. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 24 (legislative day, JANUARY 3), 2013 

Mr. ROCKEFELLER (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. COBURN, Mr. 

JOHANNS, and Mr. HELLER) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation 

A BILL 

To arrange for the National Academy of Sciences to study 

the impact of violent video games and violent video programming on children. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Violent Content Re5 search Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STUDY; NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the 

8 date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Trade Commis9 sion, the Federal Communications Commission, and the 


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1 Department of Health and Human Services, jointly, shall 

2 undertake to enter into appropriate arrangements with the 

3 National Academy of Sciences to conduct a comprehensive 

4 study and investigation of— 

5 (1) whether there is a connection between expo6 sure to violent video games and harmful effects on 

7 children; and 

8 (2) whether there is a connection between expo9 sure to violent video programming and harmful ef10 fects on children. 

11 (b) CONTENTS OF STUDY AND INVESTIGATION.— 

12 (1) VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES.—The study and in13 vestigation under subsection (a) shall include— 

14 (A) whether the exposure listed under sub15 section (a)(1)— 

16 (i) causes children to act aggressively 

17 or causes other measurable harm to chil18 dren; 

19 (ii) has a disproportionately harmful 

20 effect on children already prone to aggres21 sive behavior or on other identifiable 

22 groups of children; and 

23 (iii) has a harmful effect that is dis24 tinguishable from any negative effects pro25 duced by other types of media; 


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1 (B) whether any harm identified under 

2 subparagraph (A)(i) has a direct and long-last3 ing impact on a child’s well-being; and 

4 (C) whether current or emerging charac5 teristics of video games have a unique impact 

6 on children, considering in particular video 

7 games’ interactive nature and the extraor8 dinarily personal and vivid way violence might 

9 be portrayed in such video games. 

10 (2) VIOLENT VIDEO PROGRAMMING.—The study 

11 and investigation under subsection (a) shall in12 clude— 

13 (A) whether the exposure listed under sub14 section (a)(2)— 

15 (i) causes children to act aggressively 

16 or causes other measurable harm to chil17 dren; 

18 (ii) has a disproportionately harmful 

19 effect on children already prone to aggres20 sive behavior or on other identifiable 

21 groups of children; and 

22 (iii) has a harmful effect that is dis23 tinguishable from any negative effects pro24 duced by other types of media; and 


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1 (B) whether any harm identified under 

2 subparagraph (A)(i) has a direct and long-last3 ing impact on a child’s well-being. 

4 (3) FUTURE RESEARCH.—The study and inves5 tigation under subsection (a) shall identify gaps in 

6 the current state of research which, if closed, could 

7 provide additional information regarding any causal 

8 connection— 

9 (A) between exposure to violent video 

10 games and behavior; and 

11 (B) between exposure to violent video pro12 gramming and behavior. 

13 (c) REPORT.—In entering into any arrangements 

14 with the National Academy of Sciences for conducting the 

15 study and investigation under this section, the Federal 

16 Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commis17 sion, and the Department of Health and Human Services 

18 shall request the National Academy of Sciences to submit, 

19 not later than 15 months after the date on which such 

20 arrangements are completed, a report on the results of the 

21 study and investigation to— 

22 (1) Congress; 

23 (2) the Federal Trade Commission; 

24 (3) the Federal Communications Commission; 

25 and 


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1 (4) the Department of Health and Human 

2 Services. 

Æ 


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