HB168 Alabama 2024 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

Matt WoodsSenator

Republican

Session

Regular Session 2024

Title

Crimes & Offenses, raises max. age for offenses involving obscene materials with depictions of children, authorizes punitive damages for victims of those offenses, and directs Board of Ed. to require policies related to those offenses

Summary

HB168 expands Alabama’s laws on child sexual abuse material by raising the age to 18, addressing AI-generated content, enabling civil remedies for victims, and requiring school policies.

What This Bill Does

It defines key terms and makes illegal the distribution, display, possession with intent to distribute, and production of child sexual abuse material involving anyone under 18, including virtually indistinguishable and AI-generated depictions. It treats real and artificial material as criminal and imposes new penalties with separate offenses for each depiction. It allows victims to sue offenders for damages, court costs, attorney fees, and, in some cases, punitive damages. It requires local boards of education to adopt written policies on private images and child sexual abuse material, including banning AI-generated explicit images.

Who It Affects

• Individuals who create, distribute, possess, advertise, or profit from child sexual abuse material (including parents/guardians who allow a child to participate).
• Students, parents, teachers, and local boards of education who must adopt and implement school policies on private images and child sexual abuse material, and who may be involved in civil actions.

Key Provisions

• Raises age coverage from under 17 to under 18 and includes both real and AI-generated depictions as illegal.
• Expands crimes to include advertising, promoting, presenting, or soliciting child sexual abuse material; establishes a separate offense for each depiction.
• Creates civil liability for victims with actual damages, court costs, and attorney fees; allows punitive damages if the offender acted with wantonness or malice and provides a defense related to AI-generated material.
• Requres local boards of education to adopt policies by the 2024-2025 school year addressing distribution of private images and child sexual abuse material and to prohibit AI-generated explicit images.
• Repeals the existing commercial exploitation statute and updates related language; sets an effective date of October 1, 2024; includes protections for Internet service providers not to be liable solely for providing access.

AI-generated summary using openai/gpt-5-nano on Feb 22, 2026. May contain errors — refer to the official bill text for accuracy.

Subjects

Crimes & Offenses