HB293 Preventing minors from accessing obscenity on certain electronic devices with internet access.
Preventing minors from accessing obscenity on certain electronic devices with internet access.
Impact Score — How Does This Bill Affect You?
Overall Impact Score
Concerning
Scale: 1 (harmful) to 10 (beneficial)
Your Wallet
Parents and manufacturers may face increased litigation costs; manufacturers will incur expenses to develop and install compliant filters, potentially raising device prices for NH consumers.
Your Community
No direct impact on schools, local services, or infrastructure mentioned in the bill.
Your Freedom
The mandatory filter requirement, though with parent-controllable password protection, restricts what content devices can access by default and creates criminal liability (Class B felony) for filter disabling, potentially limiting parental choice in device configuration.
Status
Refer for Interim Study: Motion Adopted Voice Vote 01/07/2026 House Journal 1 P. 75
Sponsor
Margaret Drye (R)
The Short Version
This bill mandates that all smartphones and tablets sold in NH after January 1, 2026 include built-in filters to block obscene material, with automatic activation for minors. Parents can sue manufacturers for non-compliance or anyone who disables filters to let minors access obscene content, with penalties up to $50,000 per violation plus attorney fees; intentional filter disabling becomes a Class B felony.
Who's Behind This Bill?
Who Benefits
- ▲ Parents and legal guardians seeking to limit minor access to obscene material
- ▲ Parents who can sue for damages if filters are disabled or non-compliant
Who Pays the Price
- ▼ Device manufacturers, who must develop, install, and maintain compliant filters and face civil liability with damages up to $50,000 per violation
- ▼ NH consumers, who may see higher device prices due to filter implementation costs
- ▼ Any person who disables a filter intentionally, facing Class B felony criminal charges
- ▼ The state criminal justice system, facing indeterminate costs for prosecution and incarceration
Bill statuses as of October 7, 2026. Check LegiScan or NH General Court for the latest.
This bill was auto-scored using AI analysis of the bill text and legislative data. Scores may be refined as we review more bills.