In one paragraph
West Virginia's SB 498 (2026 regular session) would have added W. Va. Code 61-8A-6, requiring commercial adult websites (where sexually explicit material is more than 25% of content) to verify age with biometric facial recognition, a government-issued ID and an adult's credit card, repeated every 24 hours, without storing biometric data after verification. Penalties would include $1 million per violation and civil damages. It was sent to Senate Judiciary on January 19, 2026 and died when the session ended March 14, 2026.
Plain-English summary, written with AI assistance. The official text controls.
What it means for business
None: the bill did not pass. It would have required adult websites to verify age with biometric facial recognition, ID and credit card checks, with large penalties.
Key provisions
- Age verification would have to use biometric facial recognition, a government-issued ID and credit card authentication, and must not store biometric data after verification (61-8A-6(b), (c))
- Users must be re-verified every 24 hours; selling, sharing or storing collected personal information is prohibited and punishable under the Consumer Protection Act (46A-2-130 et seq.)
- Platforms may not let users bypass verification with VPNs, proxies or anonymizing technologies
- Penalties: $1 million per violation for failure to enforce; sites that knowingly allow minors access would be permanently blocked and face civil liability up to $10,000 per minor exposed; civil penalties up to $50,000 per day and a state block after 30 days of non-compliance; parents may seek statutory damages up to $100,000 per incident
- Attorney General must create a unit for compliance audits; compliance defense where access resulted from circumvention that was not reasonably preventable
- The text does not mention artificial intelligence; no effective date; introduced January 19, 2026, sent to Senate Judiciary and died at the end of the 2026 session
Latest legislative action
Jan 19, 2026. To Judiciary; died when the West Virginia Legislature's 2026 regular session ended March 14, 2026
Sponsors (showing 5 of 38)
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Beach | Primary |
| Chapman | Primary |
| Hamilton | Primary |
| Maynard | Primary |
| Rucker | Primary |
Topics and industries
Related topics
Affected industries
This page is general information, not legal advice. Summaries are AI-assisted and may contain errors; read the statute for the controlling text and talk to a lawyer about your situation. Full disclaimer · Report an error