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Nebraska lawmakers voted to advance a bill Wednesday that would require pornographic websites and other online distributors of "material harmful to minors" to verify the age of website users.Ìý

In , the Legislature voted 31-0 to give LB1092 first-round approval, eschewing concerns raised by some lawmakers over the proposal's enforceability and potential unintended consequences.

Fifteen lawmakers — mostly DemocratsÌý—Ìýwho were present Wednesday did not cast a vote on the measure, signaling opposition to the proposal that critics characterized as a half-baked attempt to curb minors' broad access to porn.

Introduced by Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil, the bill would require adult websites, or third-party companies they contract, to verify that users attempting to access the sites are at least 18 years old through a "reasonable age verification method," which could include a photo ID or driver's license or other documentation — such as a credit card statement — that could serve as "a reliable proxy for age."

The bill would bar websites or third-party contractors from retaining users' personal information and would allow users or their parents the right to sue adult websites that do not comply with the law.

"There is, indeed, endless hours of unlimited graphic material on the internet that, right now, our children have unfettered access to," Murman said amid debate on his bill, which lasted more than four hours across two days this week. "It doesn't have to be that way."

Murman pointed to , anxiety, violent behavior, a distorted view of relationships between men and women, among other negative emotional, psychological and physical health outcomes.

"The content that our children is being exposed to is increasingly concerning," he said. "Online pornography is undoubtedly violentÌý— and that violence is taking its toll."

The bill's opponentsÌý— led by Sen. Carol Blood of BellevueÌý— broadly cast Murman's proposal as a well-intended but ineffective route forward, highlighting widely accessible means of circumventing age verification tools while raising questions over privacy, government overreach and how the state might police compliance.

"Today, you're gonna pass a bill celebrating how you made it harder for kids to get to paid porn sites while opening up a giant door allowing Nebraskans who are adults to have their data stolen," Blood said. "You forget that most online porn is free, and even available on sites like Twitter."

The bill does not specifically target websites that charge users to view adult content but does carve out exceptions for social media sites and news platforms. Lawmakers adopted an amendment to the bill Wednesday to narrow the scope of the age verification requirement to apply only to websites where "more than one third of the total material" published is "harmful."

Blood and other opponents noted that teens or even grade-schoolers could utilize free virtual private networks, or VPNs, to access porn sites in Nebraska if the proposal is made law.

And Blood warned that the bill — which she repeatedly labeled plainly as "a bad bill" —Ìýcould prompt bad actors to build look-alike websites meant to mirror porn sites as a means of extracting personal information from unknowing users who try to submit their ID or other private documents to verify their age.

She also questioned the merit of Nebraska restricting access to adult content to teens under 18 when the state's age of majority is 19 and the age of consent is 16.

"Unfortunately, young people can have sex with adults at 16 and 17 (in Nebraska)," Blood said. "So we're allowing them to have intercourse, but disallowing them —Ìýand I don't think either is right, but I'm just saying that I think it is problematic."

Murman struggled at times to answer questions about the functionality of the bill, whichÌýclosely mirrors laws passed in eight other states over the past two years porn sites to verify the age of users.

The bill doesn't tab a state agency to monitor compliance, instead allowing individuals to file civil lawsuits against adult websites that allow access to minors.

Omaha Sen.ÌýMachaela Cavanaugh questioned how a website would defend itself in court against such a claim if they aren't allowed to retain user age verification records under the law.

"Well, the proof would be if a minor did get access to the website withoutÌý— if the website allowed the minor access without any kind of verification," Murman said.

"But if the minor went through the verification and somehow tricked the verification platform into thinking they were 18 or olderÌý— used their parent's ID, somethingÌý—Ìýand they got access to the website and then they told their parents, 'Oh, they didn't check my ID,' and then the parents sue and the platform has no way to verify ... their ID was checked,"ÌýCavanaugh said. "So how can the company then defend itself against that lawsuit?"

"Well," Murman said, "if the minor used a fake ID, then the parents would not have a case."

"But there's no proof," Cavanaugh said. "There's no evidence if none of this information is kept."

If Murman's bill is made law, Nebraska would be the latest state to follow Louisiana's lead in requiring porn sites to verify users age.

Arkansas, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Texas, Utah and VirginiaÌýhave enacted similar laws. And lawmakersÌý, though it hasn't yet been sent to the desk of Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat.

In Nebraska, Murman's bill must get second- and third-round approval from lawmakers before it would head to Gov. Jim Pillen's desk.

The Legislature's first-round approval of the measure Wednesday came on Day 51 of this year's 60-day legislative session.

Pornhub, one of the most popular websites in the world, that have enacted age verification laws, doing so as overly broad and ineffective.

"It has resulted in these companies pulling out of these states, which sounds great," said Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha. "You're like, 'Oh, well, the smut peddlers are gone.' But the problem with freedom of speech (and) expression is that we have to protect everyone's right to speak and to express themselvesÌý— even the ones we don't like.

"So putting up regulations that act effectively as a ban is problematic."

Murman disagrees.

"The Pornhub has actually pulled out, I think I'm correct in saying, it's pulled out of seven states now that have passed this bill," he said. "So, apparently, it's working."