OLYMPIA, Wash.- A bill heard in the House Consumer Protection & Business Committee looks to restrict minors from accessing pornography online.
HB 2112, or the ‘Keep Our Children Safe Act’ (KOCSA), would require adult content websites to implement age verification measures to ensure users are age 18 or older.
“A lot of these sites right now are wide open even though that absolutely violates state obscenity laws,” Rep. Chris Corry (R-Yakima) said in an interview with NonStop Local. “We would never allow our youth or children to enter physical adult book stores or any other similar type of establishments.”
25 states have enacted laws similar to KOCSA, and though privacy and free speech advocates have slammed legislators for impeding constitutional rights, the Supreme Court has upheld states’ authority to implement such measures through a landmark case challenging Texas’ age verification law.
“It is hopefully a way that we can safeguard our youth,” Corry said. “Provide one extra layer of protection, and make sure that online establishments are following the law that any retail or physical establishment would have to as well.”
Under KOCSA, a commercial entity that “knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes material” of which more than one-third is deemed sexual material harmful to minors would be required to use “reasonable age verification methods” to verify people visiting the website are age 18 or older.
Age verification measures could use government-issued identification or “public or private transactional data”, currently defined to include records of mortgage, employment and education. Those conducting age verification would not be allowed to store any identifying information.
The bill would also require adult websites to post notices of the youth health risks associated with pornography on landing pages and on all advertisements for sites.
Opponents argue it violates constitutional rights to expression and privacy, while pointing to the implications for businesses which run adult websites.
Robert Zinchak, who operates a website opposing KOCSA, in a Jan. 16 public hearing brought concerns of data collection and decried the bill as a “Trojan horse for censorship” in a spirited address.
“The data collection industry stands to profit from this bill immensely given that they’re the ones often behind these age verification products,” Zinchak said. “If you give data to a data broker, they are going to sell it. They are going to breach it–it does not matter what you put in this legislation–that is what is going to happen, I guarantee it.”
“Meanwhile, age verification walls are imposing a tremendous burden on free speech. Adult sites are seeing drops of 90% or 99.9% of their users due to these bills. This doesn’t just affect regular porn; this is also affecting adult-oriented artwork and books. This bill is a book-burning bill dressed up as safety.”
Zinchak submitted an alternative plan in written testimony outlining how Olympia could coordinate with adult content websites and parental control applications to provide what he called the most effective way to protect children online.
“Basically, build a partnership between adult websites and parents,” Zinchak said.
Rep. Corry says the committee is still workshopping the bill to ensure narrow definitions and proper enforcement.
“There’s been some legitimate concerns from the public around making sure that we’re not getting overly broad, that we’re not requiring too much data collection, that we’re not limiting free speech, or setting up a method or manner where the government would be able to expand this into a form of digital ID. We’re working through all those concerns to make sure we do that correctly.”
“I don’t believe that any sort of age verification violates the First Amendment,” Corry argued. “We’re not restricting speech at all. We’re just saying, ‘if it’s a product that is marketed and geared towards those 18 and over, that you have to be 18 and over to access it.’”
As of writing, HB 2112 remains in committee. The last day for the House Consumer Protection & Business Committee to deliver its report is Feb. 4.
The 2026 Washington State Legislative Session ends Mar. 20.
