HOUSE BILL NO. 376

INTRODUCED BY A. WALTERS

A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: "AN ACT PROVIDING FOR FILTERING AND BLOCKING OF OBSCENE AND OTHER ILLEGAL MATERIAL DURING INTERNET USE ON PUBLIC ELEMENTARY, SECONDARY, AND POSTSECONDARY SCHOOL COMPUTERS."

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:

NEW SECTION. Section 1. Appropriation prohibited for university system unit or community college district allowing minors computer access to obscene or otherwise illegal material. (1) The legislature may not appropriate any funds to a unit of the university system, as designated in 20-25-201, or to a community college district, as defined in 20-15-101, unless the unit or college has certified to the board of regents that:

(a) each of the unit's or college's computers that has access to the internet filters or blocks access by persons under 18 years of age to material that is illegal under state or federal law, including material that is obscene or obscene to minors under 45-8-201, 45-8-205, and 45-8-206; and

(b) the unit or college follows board of regents' policies designed to provide for supervision of internet access by persons under 18 years of age, to control internet access to illegal material by persons under 18 years of age, and to deny internet access to persons under 18 years of age found by the unit or college to have repeatedly accessed illegal material over the internet.

(2) If a unit of the university system or a community college has made a certification under subsection (1), the board of regents and the unit or college and its administrators, teachers, and other employees are not liable under any theory of negligence for any damages arising from access that a person under 18 years of age obtains to illegal material over the internet on one of the unit's or college's computers.

NEW SECTION. Section 2. Prohibition on public school access to obscene or otherwise illegal material. (1) The board of trustees of each public elementary and secondary school district shall ensure that:

(a) each of the district's computers that has access to the internet filters or blocks access to material that is illegal under state or federal law, including material that is obscene or obscene to minors under 45-8-201, 45-8-205, and 45-8-206; and

(b) each school in the district follows board policies designed to control internet access to illegal material, to provide for supervision of internet access by persons under 18 years of age, and to deny internet access to persons found by the school to repeatedly access illegal material over the internet.

(2) A board of trustees that has not complied with subsection (1) by October 1, 2000, shall give notice by mail to the parents or guardian of each student in the district that the parents' or guardian's child or children may have viewed perverted and explicit sexual acts, other material that is obscene or obscene to minors, and other illegal material over the internet on a school computer because the material was not filtered or blocked as required by subsection (1). If notice cannot be made by mail to all the parents and guardians, the board shall publish the notice once a week for 3 consecutive weeks during each 6-month period following October 1, 2000, in a local newspaper of general circulation in the school district or, if there is no local newspaper of general circulation in the school district, in a newspaper that has general circulation in the school district. The notices required by this subsection must be given until the board has complied with subsection (1).

(3) A school district that is in compliance with subsection (1) and its trustees, administrators, teachers, and other employees are not liable under any theory of negligence for any damages arising from access that a person obtains to illegal material over the internet on a school computer.

NEW SECTION. Section 3. Codification instruction. [Section 2] is intended to be codified as an integral part of Title 20, chapter 3, part 3, and the provisions of Title 20 apply to [section 2].

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