Washington – Today, the Computer & Communications Industry Association will testify before the New Hampshire House Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety to express its support for House amendments to Senate Bill 263. While CCIA continues to have concerns about the bill’s overall scope and lack of clarity, the House’s proposed changes represent a meaningful improvement over the original draft and earlier Senate amendments.
As written, SB 263 could expose a wide range of businesses, including those offering generative AI tools, customer service bots, and other automated technologies, to significant liability based on vague and undefined standards. The original bill’s broad language would have forced many services to either over-censor communications or restrict access to minors entirely, undermining both innovation and free expression online.
The House amendments to the bill introduce important guardrails. These include limiting enforcement to the New Hampshire Attorney General, allowing a 90-day cure period for good faith efforts to comply, and refining the standard for what constitutes “endangering the welfare of a child.” These changes make the bill more enforceable and lessen the risk of overreach. CCIA supports stronger online protections for minors and believes that clear, narrowly tailored policy rather than vague prohibitions best supports families and innovation alike.
The following statement can be attributed to Kyle Sepe, State Policy Manager for CCIA:
“We appreciate the House Committee’s thoughtful approach to improving SB 263. The amended version takes meaningful steps to limit the scope of the bill and provide clearer standards for compliance. While more work remains to be done on the bill, particularly in defining key terms and narrowing overly broad applications, we thank House members for their efforts to make this legislation more workable and less likely to harm legitimate online services.”
