VIDEO GAMES & GOVERNMENT REGULATION
The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) opposes legislative efforts to regulate video game content or restrict access to video games.
This page tracks current anti-gaming legislation. If you would like to help the ECA in its efforts to protect gaming consumers from restrictive legislation, consider writing to Congress and becoming a member today.
FEDERAL
S568 "Truth in Video Game Rating Act"
Sponsor: Sen. Brownback (R-KS)
Prohibits any rating organization from assigning a content rating to any
video or computer game unless it has reviewed its entire playable content;
prohibits any producer, seller, or distributor of such games from withholding
or hiding any such content from a rating organization; requires any person
submitting to a rating organization a video or computer game with hidden
content to accompany it with the codes or methods necessary to access such
hidden content; and prohibits a rating organization from providing a content
rating that grossly mischaracterizes the game content.
Status: Referred to Committee
S3315 “Video Games Rating Enforcement Act”
Sponsor: Sen. Wicker (R-MS)
Requires ratings labels on video games and
prohibits sales and rentals of M and AO rated video games to minors.
Status: Referred to the Committee
HR1531 "Video Game Decency Act of 2007"
Sponsor: Rep. Upton (R-MI 6th)
Makes it unlawful for any person to distribute any video game whose label
contains an age-based content rating if, with the intent of obtaining a less
restrictive age-based rating, that person fails to disclose game content to an
independent ratings organization, with the result that the video game receives
a less-restrictive age-based content rating; treats any violation as an unfair
or deceptive act or practice; and preempts state or local law or regulation related
to video game content rating.
Status: Referred to Committee
HR2958 "Children Protection from Video Game Violence
and Sexual Content Act"
Sponsor: Rep. Baca (D-CA 43rd)
Requires the Federal Trade Commission (FCC) to study and report to Congress
on the system employed by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board to assign
ratings to video games, including the FCC's opinion on whether the system
exposes children to excessive violence and sexual content; requires the
Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the impact of video
games on the mental stability and growth of children and young adults.
Status: Referred to Sub-Committee
HR3899 "Parents' Empowerment Act"
Sponsor: Rep. Hunter (R-CA 52nd)
Authorizes a minor, through a person acting on his or her behalf under the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, to bring a civil action in U.S. district
court for compensatory and punitive damages for the knowing sale or
distribution of an entertainment product containing material harmful to minors,
if: (1) a reasonable person would expect a substantial number of minors to be
exposed to the material; and (2) the minor as a result of such exposure is
likely to suffer personal or emotional injury or injury to mental or moral
welfare. The bill would create an affirmative defense to such an action that:
(1) a parent or guardian of the minor owned or possessed the entertainment
product containing the material to which the minor was exposed; and (2) an act
of that parent or guardian was the proximate cause of the minor's exposure.
Status: Referred to Committee
HR5990
“Video Games Rating Enforcement Act”
Sponsor: Rep. Matheson (D-UT
2nd)
Requires ratings labels on video games and
prohibits sales and rentals of M and AO rated video games to minors.
Status: Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce
To find these and other
Congressional bills, please go here and type in the
bill number.
STATES
There are currently two pending bills in the following two states:
Massachusetts
HB1423 Would restrict the sale of video games with violent content to minors.
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