[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 863 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 863

 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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    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.

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

SECTION 1. PROHIBITION ON KNOWINGLY FURNISHING SEXUALLY EXPLICIT 
              MATERIAL TO A SCHOOL OR AN EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.

    (a) Prohibition on Knowingly Furnishing Sexually Explicit Material 
to a School or an Educational Agency.--Chapter 71 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 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.''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL FUNDS FOR SCHOOL OBTAINING OR 
              EDUCATIONAL AGENCY DISTRIBUTING SEXUALLY EXPLICIT 
              MATERIAL.

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