Law / United States / 
Mississippi
HB 1315 (2023), vendor safety policies and technology protection measures for digital and online resources offered to K-12 students and minors by public bodies
HB 1315 (2023), Miss. Code Ann. 37-11-81 and 39-3-25
In force since .
An age-appropriate design code rule binding public and private bodies.
- Criminal exposure
- No
- Private right of action
- No
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- Applies to a vendor or other person or entity providing digital or online resources or databases to students in kindergarten through twelfth grade under section 37-11-81, or to minors under section 39-3-25, and to the state, its agencies, school districts, charter schools, the other schools section 37-11-81 lists and public libraries, which offer those resources (Miss. Code 37-11-81(1) and 39-3-25(1)).
- Vendor: have safety policies and technology protection measures that prohibit and prevent a person from sending, receiving, viewing or downloading child pornography, materials that depict or promote child sexual exploitation or trafficking, obscene materials, inappropriate materials depicting or dealing with matters of sex, cruelty and violence in a manner likely to be injurious or harmful to a child, and materials that are sexually oriented as defined in section 97-5-27(2) (Miss. Code 37-11-81(2)(a)); for resources offered to minors, the same duty runs to a minor (Miss. Code 39-3-25(2)(a)).
- Vendor: block, or otherwise prohibit and prevent, access to obscene materials, inappropriate materials, sexually oriented materials and materials that depict, describe or promote child pornography or child sexual exploitation (Miss. Code 37-11-81(2)(b) and 39-3-25(2)(b)).
- Vendor: verify to the contracting party that all the resources will comply with these safety policies and technology protection measures, because the contracting party may offer the resources to students or minors only on that verification (Miss. Code 37-11-81(1) and 39-3-25(1)).
- State agency, school district, school or public library: offer digital or online resources or databases to students in kindergarten through twelfth grade, or to minors, only if the vendor has verified that all the resources will comply (Miss. Code 37-11-81(1) and 39-3-25(1)).
- State agency, school district, school or public library: withhold further payments to a provider that fails to comply, pending verification of compliance, whatever the contract provides (Miss. Code 37-11-81(3)(a) and 39-3-25(3)(a)).
- State agency, school district, school or public library: after a first uncured occurrence of noncompliance with no verification within thirty days of notice, consider the noncompliance a breach of contract; after a second, reduce the agreed price by ten percent; after a third, treat the contract as terminated and take a complete refund (Miss. Code 37-11-81(3)(d) to (f) and 39-3-25(3)(d) to (f)).
- Provider: after a second uncured occurrence, return the amount needed for the ten percent reduction where the price is paid in full or the balance owed is less than ten percent, and after a third return all amounts paid under the contract (Miss. Code 37-11-81(3)(e) and (f) and 39-3-25(3)(e) and (f)).
- State agency or public library offering resources to minors: before withholding any payment, give the database vendor written notice of the violation, thirty days to present evidence that no breach occurred, thirty days to cure, and the opportunity to tender the disputed contract funds into the registry of a court (Miss. Code 39-3-25(4)).
- State agency, school district, school or public library: report a provider's failure to comply to the Attorney General no later than thirty days after learning of it (Miss. Code 37-11-81(4) and 39-3-25(5)).
- An internet service provider, search engine or cloud service provider is not held to have violated the act solely for providing services that are not the direct provision of digital or online resources or databases to students in kindergarten through twelfth grade or to minors, and the sections do not apply to use by a student enrolled in a Mississippi institution of higher education or a community or junior college, including dual-enrolled students (Miss. Code 37-11-81(3)(b) and (c) and 39-3-25(3)(b) and (c)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Each contracting party enforces by contract: it withholds payment, treats uncured noncompliance as a breach, reduces the price and terminates. The Attorney General may investigate compliance.
What it reaches
Age threshold
18
Covered services
Digital or online resources and databases that a vendor provides to the state, its agencies, school districts, charter schools, the other schools section 37-11-81 lists and public libraries for use by students in kindergarten through twelfth grade or by minors
Instrument type
an act of a legislature
Obligation class
Design code, Reporting
What record it asks for
Logging duty
The sections require safety policies, technology protection measures and a verification to the contracting party, and name no log, audit, report by the provider or retention period.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
House Bill 1315 of 2023 enacted section 37-11-81 of the Mississippi Code for digital and online resources offered to students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. House Bill 1315 also enacted section 39-3-25 of the Mississippi Code for digital and online resources offered to minors by the state, its agencies or a public library.
The state, its agencies, a school district, a charter school and the other schools the section lists may offer digital or online resources or databases to students in kindergarten through twelfth grade only if the vendor or other person or entity providing the resources verifies that all the resources will comply with the provisions of subsection (2) of the section.
The state, its agencies and a public library may offer digital or online resources or databases to minors, meaning persons under the age of eighteen, only if the vendor or other person or entity providing the resources verifies that all the resources will comply with the provisions of subsection (2) of that section.
A vendor or other person or entity providing the resources must have safety policies and technology protection measures that prohibit and prevent a person from sending, receiving, viewing or downloading child pornography, materials that depict or promote child sexual exploitation or trafficking, obscene materials, inappropriate materials depicting or dealing with matters of sex, cruelty and violence in a manner likely to be injurious or harmful to a child, and materials that are sexually oriented.
The same safety policies and technology protection measures must block, or otherwise prohibit and prevent, access to obscene materials, inappropriate materials, sexually oriented materials and materials that depict, describe or promote child pornography or child sexual exploitation.
If a provider fails to comply, the contracting party must withhold further payments to the provider pending verification of compliance. After a first uncured occurrence of noncompliance, with no verification of compliance within thirty days of notice, the contracting party must consider the noncompliance a breach of contract.
After a second uncured occurrence of noncompliance, with no verification of compliance within thirty days of notice, the contracting party is entitled to a reduction of ten percent of the agreed price in the contract. After a third uncured occurrence of noncompliance, with no verification of compliance within thirty days of notice, the contract is considered terminated and the contracting party is entitled to a complete refund of the agreed price.
Section 39-3-25 requires a contracting party to give the database vendor written notice of the violation, thirty days to present evidence and thirty days to cure before withholding any payment. The Attorney General may investigate compliance, and the contracting party must report a provider's failure to comply to the Attorney General no later than thirty days after learning of it.
An internet service provider, search engine or cloud service provider is not held to have violated the act solely for providing services that do not constitute the direct provision of resources to students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. The requirements do not apply to the use of the resources by a student enrolled in a Mississippi institution of higher education or a community or junior college, including dual-enrolled students. The act took effect on . The Governor approved House Bill 1315 on .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app serves under-18s or serves K-12 schools.
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