Pennsylvania HB 2215: An Act amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949, in terms and courses of study, further providing for fire and emergency evacuation drills.

Bill Text

PRINTER'S NO. 2909
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 2215
Session of
2026
INTRODUCED BY McNEILL, PIELLI, SCOTT, HARKINS, HILL-EVANS,
SHUSTERMAN, DOUGHERTY, FREEMAN, MADDEN, KAZEEM, SANCHEZ,
CEPEDA-FREYTIZ, MAYES, RIVERA, INGLIS, BOROWSKI, CURRY AND
FLEMING, FEBRUARY 11, 2026
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY,
FEBRUARY 11, 2026
AN ACT
Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania
Consolidated Statutes, providing for guidelines for user age
verification and responsible dialogue; providing for the
offense of prohibited promotion of sexually explicit conduct
and for the offense of prohibited promotion of violence; and
imposing penalties.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Title 18 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
Statutes is amended by adding a chapter to read:
CHAPTER 31A
GUIDELINES FOR USER AGE VERIFICATION AND
RESPONSIBLE DIALOGUE
Subchapter
A. Preliminary Provisions
B. Prohibited Conduct
C. Age Verification
SUBCHAPTER A
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PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS
Sec.
31A01. Scope of chapter.
31A02. Definitions.
§ 31A01. Scope of chapter.
This chapter relates to artificial intelligence chatbots and
guidelines for user age verification and responsible dialogue.
§ 31A02. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this chapter
shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Adult." An individual who is 18 years of age or older.
"Artificial intelligence chatbot" or "AI chatbot." An
interactive computer service or software application that:
(1) produces new expressive content or responses not
fully predetermined by the developer or operator of the
service or application;
( 2) accepts open-ended natural-language or multimodal
user input and produces adaptive or context-responsive
output; and
(3) does not include an interactive computer service or
software application, the responses of which are limited to
contextualized replies and are unable to respond on a range
of topics outside of a narrow specified purpose.
"Artificial intelligence companion" or "AI companion." An AI
chatbot that:
(1) p rovides adaptive, human-like responses to user
inputs; and
(2) is designed to encourage or facilitate the
simulation of interpersonal or emotional interaction,
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friendship, companionship or therapeutic communication.
"Covered entity." A person that owns, operates or otherwise
makes available an AI chatbot to individuals in the United
States.
"Minor." An individual who is under 18 years of age.
"Reasonable age verification measure." A method that is
authenticated to relate to a user of an AI chatbot, including:
(1) a government-issued identification; or
(2) a ny other commercially reasonable method that:
(i) can reliably and accurately determine whether a
user is an adult; and
(ii) prevents access by minors to AI companions, as
required under this chapter.
"Reasonable age verification process." An age verification
process employed by a covered entity that:
(1) uses one or more reasonable age verification
measures to verify the age of a user of an AI chatbot owned,
operated or otherwise made available by the covered entity;
(2) p rovides that requiring a user to confirm that the
user is not a minor, or to insert the user's birth date, is
not sufficient to constitute a reasonable age verification
measure;
(3) ensures that each user is subjected to each
reasonable age verification measure used by the covered
entity as part of the age verification process; and
(4) does not base verification of a user's age on
factors such as whether the user shares an Internet Protocol
address, hardware identifier or other technical indicator
with another user determined to not be a minor.
"Sexually explicit conduct." Actual or simulated:
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(1) sexual intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-
genital, anal-genital or oral-anal, whether between persons
of the same or opposite sex;
( 2) bestiality;
(3) masturbation;
(4) sadistic or masochistic abuse; or
(5) lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area
of any person.
SUBCHAPTER B
PROHIBITED CONDUCT
Sec.
31A11. Prohibited promotion of sexually explicit conduct.
31A12. Prohibited promotion of violence.
§ 31A11. Prohibited promotion of sexually explicit conduct.
(a) Offense defined.--A person commits an offense if the
person designs, develops or makes available an AI chatbot,
knowing or with reckless disregard for the fact that the AI
chatbot poses a risk of soliciting, encouraging or inducing
minors to:
(1) engage in, describe or simulate sexually explicit
conduct; or
(2) create or transmit any visual depiction of sexually
explicit conduct.
(b) Penalty.--A person who violates subsect