North Carolina Pornography Age Verification Enforcement Act

House Bill 534 would enact the "Pornography Age Verification Enforcement Act" or PAVE Act. It would require commercial entities that publish or distribute "material harmful to minors" on internet websites to verify that a person seeking to access the material is 18 by requiring the person to comply with a commercial age verification system that verifies using government-issued identification or public or private transactional data.

The Attorney General would be authorized to conduct investigations of the alleged failure to use a required system and provide the commercial entity with at least 30 days to comply with the requirement. If the entity fails to comply, the Attorney General could initiate a civil action in the Superior Court of Wake County to assess civil penalties. Civil penalties could be assessed as follows:
• $5,000 for each day of violation.
• An additional $10,000 for each violation, at the request of the Attorney General.
Civil penalties collected would be remitted to the Civil Penalty and Forfeiture Fund.

This act would become effective January 1, 2024, and apply to websites accessed on or after that date.