H-0561.2 _______________________________________________
HOUSE BILL 1315
_______________________________________________
State of Washington 56th Legislature 1999 Regular Session
By Representatives Dickerson, Ballasiotes, O'Brien, Cairnes, Lovick, Edwards, Rockefeller, Schual‑Berke, Kenney, Lantz, Ogden and Gombosky
Read first time 01/21/1999. Referred to Committee on Criminal Justice & Corrections.
AN ACT Relating to video and video games; and creating new sections.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The department of health shall prepare and submit a report to the legislature, not later than December 31, 1999, on the most effective ways for parents to control juvenile access to violent video games.
(2) The department shall ensure that the report includes, at a minimum:
(a) A study of the types of violence existing in video games available on the retail and rental market or over the internet.
(b) Recommendations for educating parents about the level of violence existing in video games available to juveniles, including identification of types of violent video games that may be harmful to specific age groups of juveniles;
(c) A list of nonviolent video game alternatives for juveniles;
(d) Recommendations on the most effective techniques for parents to allow juveniles access to only age-appropriate video games.
(3) In preparing the report, the department shall also include any current research that links violent television shows, movies, and video games to acts of aggression and violence by juveniles.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. The department of revenue shall conduct a study of methods for collecting a user fee on the rental and sales of unrated video games, video games rated NC-17 and M, and video games that are even more restrictively rated. All user fees collected shall be divided evenly, with fifty percent of the user fee being distributed to the crime victims' compensation program and the remaining fifty percent being distributed to the department of health for parent education programming. The department shall investigate alternative methods of collecting the user fee. The department shall identify and estimate the costs of collecting the user fee by small, medium, and large retailers for each alternative. The department shall identify and estimate the department's costs of collecting the tax for each alternative. The department shall report its findings to the fiscal committees of the house of representatives and senate by December 31, 1999.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The department of health shall implement and obtain, through a request for proposal process, a definitive scientific study, in addition to and exceeding the report mandated in section 1 of this act. The department shall ensure that the study addresses: (1) Whether, and to what extent, violent video games encourage or increase aggressive acts by juveniles exposed to those games, with specificity regarding specific games and types of games, and with specificity regarding juvenile age groups; and (2) effective methods for parental control of juvenile access to violent video games and for abatement of aggressive juvenile behaviors related to violent video games.
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