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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.

2/4/2025, 4:28 PM

Summary of Bill HR 863

Bill 118 hr 863 aims to amend title 18 of the United States Code to prevent publishing houses from knowingly providing sexually explicit material to schools or educational agencies. The bill also seeks to prohibit federal funds from being allocated to schools or educational agencies that acquire or distribute sexually explicit material. The main goal of this legislation is to ensure that inappropriate content is not being disseminated in educational settings, particularly to students. The bill includes provisions to enforce these restrictions and outlines penalties for violations. Overall, the focus of this bill is on protecting students and maintaining appropriate standards in educational materials.

Congressional Summary of HR 863

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.

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—a fine, a prison term of up to five years, or both.

The bill imposes a fine on a publishing house that knowingly furnishes such published material to schools or educational agencies.

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.

The bill includes exceptions for material with serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

Current Status of Bill HR 863

Bill HR 863 is currently in the status of Bill Introduced since February 7, 2023. Bill HR 863 was introduced during Congress 118 and was introduced to the House on February 7, 2023.  Bill HR 863's most recent activity 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. as of February 7, 2023

Bipartisan Support of Bill HR 863

Total Number of Sponsors
1
Democrat Sponsors
0
Republican Sponsors
1
Unaffiliated Sponsors
0
Total Number of Cosponsors
10
Democrat Cosponsors
0
Republican Cosponsors
10
Unaffiliated Cosponsors
0

Policy Area and Potential Impact of Bill HR 863

Primary Policy Focus

Crime and Law Enforcement

Alternate Title(s) of Bill HR 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.
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.

Comments

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