New Kansas law requires porn websites verify a user's age, ban kids. Here's what to know.

A new Kansas law will require pornographic websites to verify a user's age in an attempt by lawmakers to prevent children from seeing "harmful" material.

Gov. Laura Kelly on Friday allowed Senate Bill 394 to become law without her signature. The bill passed 40-0 in the Senate and 92-31 in the House.

"While well-meaning in its efforts to protect children from content the legislature considers 'harmful to minors,' this bill is vague in its application and may end up infringing on constitutional rights, which is an issue being litigated in other jurisdictions over similar bills," Kelly said in a statement. "For that reason, I will allow this bill to become law without my signature."

What does the age verification law for porn do?

Under the new law, a commercial entity that distributes material "harmful to minors" on at least 25% of its webpages must verify the age of any person in Kansas before they can access their website. They must use either a database or age-verification technology specified by the Kansas Attorney General's Office.

Failure to do so can result in lawsuits by the attorney general, with civil penalties of up to $10,000 for each violation or lawsuits by the parent or legal guardian of a minor for statutory damages of no less than $50,000.

"The harms that pornography cause to our Kansas kids compel us to create barriers for their access," said Rep. Susan Humphries, R-Wichita.

The law will go into effect on July 1.

Pornhub blocked access in Texas due to similar law

Similar legislation has been passed in other states, where opponents have argued that restrictions infringe on the rights of adults who must provide proof of age to a porn site.

In Texas, their age verification law has resulted in Pornhub blocking access to all users in that state.

In a federal court case there, a judge previously ruled in favor of Pornhub, which argued the law violates free speech protections. But a federal appeals court later upheld the law.

Does the new porn law violate constitutional rights?

Kelly's concern over constitutional rights was also raised by some Democratic lawmakers during debate in the House last month.

Rep. Dan Osman, D-Overland Park, said that while "all of us in this room can agree porn is bad for kids," the legislation is "rife with big government coming down and telling you what to do; it is rife with First Amendment issues."

Republicans disagreed.

"This bill is narrowly tailored so it does not run afoul of First Amendment rights," Humphries said. "In fact, other states have passed this. In Texas, the Fifth Circuit has found that this does not run afoul of First Amendment rights. Of course, children have no constitutional right to access pornography."

Will adults in Kansas still be able to access porn sites?

The law does not directly ban adults from accessing porn.

"Nothing in this bill would preclude any adult from looking at all the nasty material that their heart desires," said Rep. Patrick Penn, R-Wichita, who said he supported the legislation to protect children, including his own.

But adults would have to provide some form of age verification. Opponents raised concerns of cybersecurity and identity theft from sending a drivers license or Social Security number to a third party based in another country.

Additionally, porn sites could block access to adults in the state to ensure compliance with the law.

Some Democrats suggested the law may be ineffective at blocking access for children, who could circumvent it by buying a virtual private network.

VPNs encrypt an internet user's connection through a remote server, masking their location, which can allow a user to circumvent a geographical restriction. After Pornhub blocked access, Google searches surged for "Texas VPN."

How is Kansas restricting porn with a bill that never mentions porn?

While designed to combat children from accessing porn online, the bill never uses the term "porn."

Instead, legislators used the existing legal definition for material "harmful to minors." The term generally means a depiction of nudity or sexual conduct, but the broad legal definition had some legislators concerned about how it could be interpreted.

Rep. Rui Xu, D-Westwood, said he wasn't sure if it was an intended or unintended consequence, but "the definitions are much broader than we actually think." He noted that the "harmful to minors" definition includes "sexual conduct," which has a definition that includes "homosexuality."

Rep. John Carmichael, D-Wichita, suggested it could apply to websites that have LGBTQ-friendly books that conservative organizations oppose.

Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: New Kansas law on porn requires online age verification, bans kids