(Radio Iowa) – Iowa may join 19 states that require age verification before someone can access a website to view porn. An Iowa House subcommittee has advanced a bill to force businesses that intentionally distribute obscene material to verify whether a person seeking online access is an adult.

Tom Chapman, executive director of the Iowa Catholic Conference, says the bill would protect children and help parents who don’t always know how to filter content on their kids’ phones. “This puts more of the obligation for protection on the provider and so we support that,” Chapman said. “We realize this bill doesn’t solve everything on the internet, but if we can put a speed bump along the way, I think it would be worth it for our state to do so.”

Logan Murray, a lobbyist for the Technology Association of Iowa, says the group supports the general concept of the bill, but has some concerns. “Websites with legitimate content could be at risk of being held liable or requiring age verification — medical publications, things along those lines,” Murray said. “Additionally, this would require a lot of data collection, which puts Iowans at risk for data breaches.”

A year ago, Governor Reynolds asked legislators to pass this kind of a law requiring age verification for access to websites with pornographic or indecent content.