To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a publishing house from knowingly furnishing sexually explicit material to a school or an educational agency, to prohibit Federal funds from being provided to a school that obtains or an educational agency that distributes sexually explicit material, and for other purposes.

Bill: 118-hr-863
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Mills, Cory [R-FL-7]
Introduced: 2023-02-07
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement
Latest action: action_date: 2023-02-07
text: Referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Summaries:
action_date: 2023-02-07
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p>This bill establishes new criminal offenses related to furnishing sexually explicit material (i.e., books, magazines, newspapers, or other printed material and digital or electronic books) to elementary or secondary schools or state or local educational agencies. It also prohibits federal funds for schools that obtain or educational agencies that distribute such material.</p> <p>Specifically, the bill makes it a crime for a president, director, manager, or officer of a publishing house to knowingly authorize the furnishing of published material containing a sexually explicit visual depiction to schools or educational agencies. A violator is subject to criminal penalties&#8212;a fine, a prison term of up to five years, or both.</p> <p>The bill imposes a fine on a publishing house that knowingly furnishes such published material to schools or educational agencies.</p> <p>The bill also prohibits federal funds from being provided to (1) schools that knowingly obtain such published material, and (2) educational agencies that knowingly distribute such material to schools.</p> <p>The bill includes exceptions for material with serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.</p>

tv_txt: I 118th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 863 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 7, 2023 Mr. Mills introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce , and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary , for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a publishing house from knowingly furnishing sexually explicit material to a school or an educational agency, to prohibit Federal funds from being provided to a school that obtains or an educational agency that distributes sexually explicit material, and for other purposes.

1. Prohibition on knowingly furnishing sexually explicit material to a school or an educational agency (a) Prohibition on knowingly furnishing sexually explicit material to a school or an educational agency Chapter 71 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 1471. Furnishing of sexually explicit material to a school or an educational agency (a) Offenses (1) Publishing house Whoever, in or affecting interstate commerce, being a publishing house, knowingly furnishes an elementary school, a secondary school, a local educational agency, or a State educational agency with published material containing a sexually explicit visual depiction of any kind, including a picture, photograph, or drawing, shall be subject to a fine of not more than $500,000. (2) President, director, manager, or officer of a publishing house (A) In general Whoever, in or affecting interstate commerce, being a president, director, manager, or officer of a publishing house, knowingly authorizes the furnishing of published material in violation of paragraph (1) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both. (B) Affirmative defense It shall be an affirmative defense to a charge of violating subparagraph (A) if the defendant proves, by a preponderance of the evidence, that an individual at a higher management level knowingly authorized the furnishing of the published material involved. (b) Excepted material The prohibitions in subsection (a) do not apply with respect to material with serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. (c) Definitions In this section: (1) ESEA terms The terms elementary school , local educational agency , secondary school , and State educational agency have the meanings given those terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 7801 ). (2) Published material The term published material — (A) means any book, magazine, newspaper, or other printed material; and (B) includes digital or electronic books. (3) Publishing house The term publishing house means a for-profit entity that manufactures, distributes, or sells published material. . (b) Clerical amendment The table of sections for chapter 71 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 1470 the following: 1471. Furnishing of sexually explicit material to a school or an educational agency. . 2. Prohibition on Federal funds for school obtaining or educational agency distributing sexually explicit material (a) No Federal funds for school obtaining sexually explicit material No Federal funds may be provided to an elementary school or a secondary school that knowingly obtains published material containing a sexually explicit visual depiction of any kind, including a picture, photograph, or drawing, until such time that the school relinquishes or destroys the published material. (b) No Federal funds for educational agency distributing sexually explicit material No Federal funds may be provided to a local educational agency or a State educational agency that knowingly distributes to an elementary school or a secondary school published material containing a sexually explicit visual depiction of any kind, including a picture, photograph, or drawing, until such time that the educational agency instructs the school to which the educational agency distributed the published material to either relinquish or destroy the material. (c) Excepted material The prohibitions in subsections (a) and (b) do not apply with respect to material with serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. (d) Definitions In this section: (1) ESEA terms The terms elementary school , local educational agency , secondary school , and State educational agency have the meanings given those terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 7801 ). (2) Published material The term published material — (A) means any book, magazine, newspaper, or other printed material; and (B) includes digital or electronic books.