Minnesota State Representative Tim O’Driscoll announced on May 1 that the Minnesota House has advanced several bills, most of which received strong bipartisan support.
O’Driscoll said legislation aimed at preventing grooming in Minnesota schools was approved by the House this week. The bill establishes clearer rules for field trip supervision, enhances mandatory reporting requirements and mandated reporter training to include grooming, and introduces a new felony penalty for grooming. The legislation also makes it easier to charge and recognize offenses related to grooming children and youth.
The House also passed a bill targeting technology that creates fake sexualized images of individuals. According to O’Driscoll, the measure would ban apps and websites that enable users to “nudify” images or videos, as well as prohibit advertising or promoting such services.
A separate bill focused on protecting children from social media is expected to be debated soon by the full House. The proposed law would require platforms to use age-estimation technology to terminate accounts for children aged 15 or younger if there is no verifiable parental consent. For minors who do obtain parental consent, the bill would prohibit addictive features in their accounts and ban targeted content or advertising directed at them in Minnesota. Social media companies would be required to verify children’s ages using available estimation technology.
O’Driscoll encouraged constituents with questions or concerns about these legislative efforts to contact him by email or phone. He concluded his update by wishing everyone a good weekend.
