The Parent's Accountability and Child Protection Act.

Existing law, the Parent's Accountability and Child Protection Act, requires a person or business that conducts business in California and that seeks to sell specified products or services to take reasonable steps to ensure that the purchaser is of legal age at the time of purchase or delivery, including verifying the age of the purchaser. The act provides that reasonable steps include, but are not limited to, any of specified options, including requiring the user to input, scan, provide, or display a government-issued identification, as specified. The act prohibits any person or business required to comply with the provisions of the act from retaining, using, or disclosing any information it receives from a purchaser or recipient in an effort to verify age under the provisions of the act. In an action brought by a public prosecutor, existing law subjects a business or person that violates these provisions to a civil penalty not to exceed $7,500 for each violation. This bill would expand the above-described provisions to require a person or business that conducts business in California and seeks to sell or make available products or services that are illegal to make available to minors, as specified, to take reasonable steps to ensure that the purchaser or user, as defined, is of legal age at the time of access, purchase, or delivery, as applicable. The bill would provide that reasonable steps include, but are not limited to, any of specified options, including requiring the user or purchaser to input, scan, provide, or display a government-issued identification, as specified, and would also require the Attorney General to issue regulations further defining reasonable steps pursuant to these provisions, as provided. The bill would expand the above-described prohibition against retention, use, or disclosure to apply to a person or business that conducts business in California and that seeks to make available products that are illegal to make available to minors and would require the business or person to ensure that the reasonable step is designed to anonymize a user's identity and is incapable of being used to create a record of the user's online activity. This bill would provide that the penalty described above for a violation of the bill's provisions with regard to certain products or services that are illegal to make available to minors may be assessed and recovered only in a civil action brought by the Attorney General. The bill would also delete an obsolete provision. The bill would make the bill's provisions operative on January 1, 2027.