HOUSE BILL ANALYSIS
HB 1315
Title: An act relating to video and video games.
Brief Description: Regulating violent video games.
Sponsors:
Representatives Dickerson, Ballasiotes, O'Brien, Cairnes, Lovick, Edwards,
Rockefeller, Schual‑Berke, Kenney, Lantz, Ogden and Gombosky.
HOUSE
COMMITTEE ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CORRECTIONS
Staff:
Yvonne Walker (786-7841).
Background:
Video games have become a popular form of
entertainment for the young and old alike. Today an estimated 69 percent of
American families own or rent video and computer games.
In 1993, Senator Joe Lieberman (from Connecticut)
and Senator Herb Kohl (from Wisconsin) held a number of Congressional hearings
on violent video games. As a result, they successfully pressured the
video-game industry to adopt a rating system to inform parents of games
featuring violent and sexually oriented content. By 1994, the Entertainment
Software Rating Board (ESRB) started dividing video games into five
categories: EC for players in early childhood, E for everyone, T for teens 13
and older, M for mature players 17 and older, and AO for adults only. The
rating appears on the front of every game box, while on the back there are
three or four words that describe the content.
Since 1993, several states have been considering
legislation to regulate the sale of violent video games, including such states
as California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico,
Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Tennessee. However, by the end of 1998, no
state has enacted legislation regulating video games.
Summary:
The
Department of Health is required to study and prepare a report on the most
effective ways parents can control juvenile access to violent video games. The
report is due to the Legislature by December 31, 1999 and must include the
types of violence existing in video games available on the market, as well as
over the Internet; recommendations for educating parents about the level of
violence existing in video games; a list of nonviolent video game alternatives
for juveniles; and recommendations on the most effective techniques for parents
to allow juveniles access to only age-appropriate video games. The report must
also include any current research that links violent television shows, movies,
and video games to acts of violence by juveniles.
The
Department of Health must also complete a second study. The second study will
be a Adefinitive scientific study,@ and must be implemented through a request for proposal process. As
part of this definitive study, the department must ensure that the research
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.
In addition, the Department of Revenue must study
the methods for collecting a user fee on the rental and sale of unrated video
games, video games rated NC-17 and M, and video games that are even more
restrictively rated. All user fees collected will be divided evenly between
the Crime Victims' Compensation Program and the Department of Health for parent
educational programming. The department will also research alternative methods
for collecting the user fees and will identify and estimate the costs of collecting
the user fees by small, medium, and large retailers for each alternative. The
department must identify and estimate their cost of collecting the fee for each
alternative. The Department of Revenue must submit its entire report to the
legislative fiscal committees by December 31, 1999.
Fiscal
Note: Requested on February 2,
1999.
Effective
Date: Ninety days after
adjournment of session in which bill is passed.