HB 647

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to violent video games; providing
3	legislative intent; providing definitions; prohibiting a
4	person from selling or renting a video game to a minor, or
5	allowing a minor to play a video game in a video arcade,
6	if the video game has been labeled as a violent video
7	game; providing that having requested identification from
8	a person purchasing a video game or playing a video game
9	in a video arcade is an affirmative defense to any action
10	filed under the act; requiring that each violent video
11	game that is imported into or distributed in this state
12	for retail sale, rental, or playing in a video arcade be
13	labeled in a specified manner; authorizing an enforcing
14	authority to commence a civil action to seek injunctive
15	relief to restrain or enjoin a person from violating the
16	act or to impose a civil penalty; limiting the amount of
17	civil penalties; providing that attorney's fees and costs
18	may be awarded under certain circumstances; directing that
19	any civil penalty recovered be deposited into the General
20	Revenue Fund; providing that a violation of the act is a
21	misdemeanor; providing an effective date.
22
23	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
24
25	Section 1.  Distribution of violent video games to minors
26	prohibited; penalties.--
27	(1)  The Legislature finds that:
28	(a)  Minors who are exposed to depictions of violence in
29	video games are more likely to experience feelings of
30	aggression, to experience a reduction of activity in the frontal
31	lobes of the brain, and to exhibit violent antisocial or
32	aggressive behavior.
33	(b)  Even minors who do not commit acts of violence suffer
34	psychological harm from prolonged exposure to violent video
35	games.
36	(c)  This state has a compelling interest in preventing
37	violent, aggressive, and antisocial behavior and in preventing
38	psychological or neurological harm to minors who play violent
39	video games.
40	(2)  As used in this section, the term:
41	(a)  "Cruel" means the intention to virtually inflict a
42	high degree of pain by torture or serious physical abuse of the
43	image of a victim in addition to killing the image of the
44	victim.
45	(b)  "Depraved" means pleasure in the virtual killing or
46	indifference to the suffering of the image of the victim, as
47	evidenced by torture or serious physical abuse of the image of a
48	victim.
49	(c)  "Enforcing authority" means a county or municipal
50	attorney, the state attorney, the Department of Legal Affairs if
51	a violation of this section occurs in more than one judicial
52	circuit, or anyone aggrieved by a violation of this section.
53	(d)  "Heinous" means shockingly atrocious. For the killing
54	depicted in a video game to be heinous, it must involve
55	additional acts of torture or serious physical abuse of the
56	image of a victim as set apart from other killings.
57	(e)  "Minor" has the same meaning as in s. 1.01, Florida
58	Statutes.
59	(f)  "Person" has the same meaning as in s. 1.01, Florida
60	Statutes.
61	(g)  "Serious physical abuse" means a significant or
62	considerable amount of injury or damage to the image of a
63	victim's body suggesting substantial risk of death,
64	unconsciousness, extreme physical pain, substantial
65	disfigurement, or substantial impairment of the function of a
66	bodily member, organ, or mental faculty. Serious physical abuse,
67	unlike torture, does not require that the victim be depicted as
68	conscious of the abuse at the time it is inflicted. However, the
69	player must specifically intend the abuse apart from the
70	killing.
71	(h)  "Torture" includes mental as well as physical abuse of
72	the image of a victim. In either case, the victim must be
73	depicted as conscious of the abuse at the time it is inflicted,
74	and the player must specifically intend to virtually inflict
75	severe mental or physical pain or suffering upon the victim,
76	apart from killing the image of the victim.
77	(i)  "Video arcade" means any premises where 10 or more
78	video game machines or devices are operated and where minors are
79	legally permitted to enter.
80	(j)  "Video game" means any electronic amusement device
81	that uses a computer, microprocessor, or similar electronic
82	circuitry and its own monitor, or a device that is designed to
83	be used with a television set or a computer monitor, which
84	interacts with the user of the device.
85	(k)  "Violent video game" means a video game in which the
86	options available to a player include killing, maiming,
87	dismembering, or sexually assaulting an image of a human being,
88	if those acts are depicted in the game in a manner that:
89	1.a.  A reasonable person, considering the game as a whole,
90	would find appeals to a deviant or morbid interest of minors;
91	b.  Is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the
92	community concerning what is suitable for minors; and
93	c.  Lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or
94	scientific value for minors; or
95	2.  Enables the player to virtually inflict serious injury
96	upon images of human beings or characters having substantially
97	human characteristics in a manner that is especially heinous,
98	cruel, or depraved in that it involves torture or serious
99	physical abuse to the image of a victim.
100
101	Pertinent factors in determining whether a killing depicted in a
102	video game is especially heinous, cruel, or depraved include
103	infliction of gratuitous violence upon the image of a victim
104	beyond that necessary to commit the killing, needless mutilation
105	of the image of a victim's body, and helplessness of the image
106	of a victim.
107	(3)  A person may not sell or rent a video game to a minor,
108	or allow a minor to play a video game in a video arcade, if the
109	video game has been labeled as a violent video game.
110	(4)  Proof that a person, or his or her employee or agent,
111	demanded, was shown, and reasonably relied upon evidence that a
112	purchaser or renter of a violent video game, or the player of a
113	violent video game in a video arcade, was not a minor, or that
114	the manufacturer failed to label a violent video game as
115	required by subsection (6), is an affirmative defense to any
116	action brought under this section. Evidence of majority
117	includes, but need not be limited to, a driver's license or an
118	identification card issued to the purchaser, renter, or player
119	by a state or by the Armed Forces of the United States.
120	(5)  This section does not apply if the violent video game
121	is sold or rented to a minor by the minor's parent, grandparent,
122	aunt, uncle, or legal guardian.
123	(6)  Each violent video game that is imported into or
124	distributed in this state for retail sale, rental, or playing in
125	a video arcade must be labeled with a solid white "18" outlined
126	in black of not less than 2 inches by 2 inches. The "18" must be
127	displayed on the front face of the video game package.
128	(7)(a)  An enforcing authority may institute a civil action
129	in order to:
130	1.  Seek injunctive relief to immediately restrain or
131	enjoin any person from engaging in any activity in violation of
132	this section or to seek injunctive relief to enforce compliance
133	with this section.
134	2.  Impose a civil penalty for each violation of this
135	section. If the person against whom the civil penalty is sought
136	is a person who possesses managerial responsibility for a
137	business entity selling, renting, or playing a violent video
138	game, the civil penalty may be in an amount of not more than
139	$1,000 per violation. If the person against whom the civil
140	penalty is sought is an employee of the business entity selling,
141	renting, or playing a violent video game, the civil penalty may
142	be in an amount of not more than $250 per violation.
143	(b)  If a civil penalty is assessed in any litigation, the
144	enforcing authority is entitled to reasonable attorney's fees
145	and costs.
146	(c)  If a civil penalty is collected, the penalty shall
147	accrue to the state and be deposited into the General Revenue
148	Fund.
149	(8)(a)  A person who violates subsection (3) or subsection
150	(6) commits a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as
151	provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083, Florida Statutes.
152	(b)  A person who commits a second or subsequent violation
153	of subsection (3) or subsection (6) commits a misdemeanor of the
154	first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s.
155	775.083, Florida Statutes.
156	Section 2.  This act shall take effect October 1, 2006.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.