DENVER, Colo. – Colorado SB 201, an age-verification bill that would have required any website with material deemed “harmful to children” to pay for both age-verification of users and audits of third-party age-verification providers, has failed to secure a Senate vote following opposition from the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) and other civil liberties organizations.
“We worked hard to educate allies and legislators on this bill,” said FSC Executive Director Alison Boden. “It was introduced with bipartisan support and almost no formal opposition. We met with legislators and allies to help them understand the technical and legal issues with this bill, as well as how it could be weaponized against non-adult content. Over this coming year, we’ll work with legislators to find effective solutions that don’t jeopardize user privacy or Coloradan’s First Amendment rights.”
According to a post published by FSC Monday evening, Boden “testified before Colorado’s Senate Health and Human Services Committee in March, explaining to legislators the myriad of problems with age-verification at the platform level. She pushed legislators to work with stakeholders on effective solutions, such as device-level verification, and defended the industry against the attacks from sometimes hostile legislators.”
FSC noted that other civil liberties groups joined them in opposing the bill, including ACLU of Colorado, Fight for the Future, Woodhull Freedom Foundation and Center for LGTBQ+ Economic Advancement and Research.
Beyond the direct approach to legislators, FSC also encouraged its members and fans of adult entertainment in Colorado to contact state legislators, and “issuing action alerts to drive calls and emails opposing the bill.”
“FSC’s work is often instrumental in stopping bad bills,” Boden observed. “But to do that, we need to be on the ground fighting. It’s only through the support of our members that we’re able to achieve these victories. I thank our members for supporting us and encourage those who are not yet members to join the fight. The more members we have, the more effective we can be.”
In the post, FSC also noted that Colorado is “the fourth state to fail to pass an age-verification bill this legislative session, following the defeat of age-verification bills in Nevada, New Mexico and West Virginia.”
