The Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary has been
requested by Senate President Mitchell and Speaker of the House Pingree
to review Public Law 2009, Chapter 230, An Act To Prevent Predatory
Marketing Practices against Minors (http://janus.state.me.us/legis/ros/lom/LOM124th/124R1/PUBLIC230.asp)
in light of the legal issues raised in a case filed in Federal Court.
The Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary held a
hearing on Thursday, October 15th and a work session on
Friday, October 16th. The
Committee voted to submit a written report to Senate President Mitchell
and House Speaker Pingree summarizing the Committee’s process,
findings and recommendations. That
report will be made available as soon as it is completed.
PL 2009, chapter 230 was enacted to address
concerns about the increasing use of modern technology to collect and
market information gathered from minors in ways that could be harmful to
them, but not yet prohibited by federal or state law.
It is very critical to report that the Judiciary Committee
believes that this issue raises a number of important and complex
questions in a new and emerging area of privacy law that need to be
addressed within the framework of various federal and state
constitutional provisions, but there is no adequate way to amend the
existing text to resolve those questions.
The committee believes that the best option would be to recommend
that the existing statute be repealed, but that new legislation should
move forward to address these concerns with some guiding parameters. The
Committee’s report will list those parameters.
The Judiciary Committee will recommend to the President and the
Speaker that the existing law be repealed, but that a new law be
introduced to carry out the original intent supporting PL 2009, c. 230.
At a minimum, the Committee recommends:
Exploring ways to prohibit deceptive methods of collecting
health information from minors;
Exploring options to restrict the transfer and resale of
information;
Paying careful attention to specific age limits;
Taking care to ensure consistency with COPPA;
Limiting the amount of information collected from minors
to qualify for free offers; and
Crafting the law as narrowly as possible.
The Committee is confident that the legislative
committee that proceeds with the recommendations will hold full public
hearings, which will attract useful participation and discussion.
The Judiciary Committee thanks the many interested
parties who participated in the process to review Public Law 2009,
chapter 230. We appreciate
the volumes of useful information submitted to the Committee, and the
civility exhibited in working with the Committee and all the others
involved in the review.
Updates will be posted on this webpage.
Do not expect to see legislation before the Second Regular
Session begins in January 2010.
Thank you.
If you have questions or would like to be added to the e-mail
distribution list on this topic, please contact Peggy Reinsch, the staff
attorney for the Judiciary Committee:
margaret.reinsch@legislature.maine.gov
(207) 287-1670
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