The Legislature finds that: (1) minors in the state face an unprecedented mental health crisis, with rising rates of anxiety, depression, and self-harm; (2) research demonstrates a correlation between minor access to material harmful to minors and negative mental health outcomes; (3) existing state efforts to address minor access to material harmful to minors and to provide mental health services for minors have been inadequate due to limited resources; (4) commercial entities that publish or distribute material harmful to minors have not voluntarily implemented effective age verification measures to prevent minor access; (5) the state has a substantial and compelling interest in protecting minors from material harmful to minors; (6) age verification requirements are an effective and minimally restrictive means of preventing minor access to material harmful to minors; (7) additional funding is necessary to support mental health services for minors and to enforce age verification requirements; and (8) entities required to implement age verification systems create regulatory costs and societal harms that warrant an excise tax to fund prevention and enforcement efforts.
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