Rep. Stakoe offered the following resolution:

            House Resolution No. 264.

            A resolution to urge the United States Congress to take action to help stop children and employees from accessing internet pornography.

            Whereas, The internet has become an extremely important and popular means of exchanging information, and is relied upon in Michigan for business, education, recreation and other uses; and

            Whereas, Many internet sites contain material that is pornographic, either obscene or inappropriate for children, and a majority of these sites originate within the United States but outside the state of Michigan; and

            Whereas, The availability of internet pornography on the job costs Michigan employers significant numbers of work hours, strains employers' computer equipment, reduces productivity, and leads to potentially hostile work environments for men and women; and

            Whereas, While the custody, care, and nurturing of children resides primarily with parents, the widespread availability of internet pornography and the ability of children to circumvent existing filtering technology defeat the best attempts at parental supervision or control; and

            Whereas, Internet pornographers use evolving techniques to lure Michigan children and others into viewing and purchasing pornographic material, defying existing technology designed to block adult content; and

            Whereas, Current methods for protecting computers and computer networks from unwanted internet content are expensive, block more than the intended content, and are easily circumvented; and

            Whereas, Because children, employees, and others may seek out pornography, warnings and other labels meant to help avoid inadvertent hits on pornographic sites may simply increase the likelihood that these sites will be visited; and

            Whereas, Credit card verification systems burden credit card companies, are expensive and time consuming to establish and maintain, and inhibit legal speech; and

            Whereas, Other forms of age verification have not been practicable; and

            Whereas, Prior Congressional attempts to address children's access to internet pornography have been held unconstitutional or otherwise have not passed constitutional scrutiny; and

            Whereas, Prior Congressional attempts to address children's access to internet pornography have not been based on technology that allows individual internet users to select what kind of internet content enters their homes and work spaces; and

            Whereas, Protecting the physical and psychological well-being of Michigan's children by shielding them from inappropriate materials is a compelling interest of the Michigan Legislature; and

            Whereas, Protecting the right of Michigan's citizens to control what materials enter their homes and other private property is a compelling interest of the Michigan Legislature; and

            Whereas, Although the State of Michigan has taken rigorous action in an attempt to shield Michigan's children from obscenity and other inappropriate adult content, it cannot effectively curb the problems with internet pornography within its borders without the support of the United States government; and

            Whereas, The United States remains in control of the internet through the Department of Commerce and the National Telecommunication and Information Association; and

            Whereas, The United States has the ability to create appropriate policies and enforcement tools to effectively deal with these issues; and

Whereas, We strongly urge the United States Congress to seriously consider enacting legislation to facilitate a technology-based solution that allows parents and employers to subscribe to internet access services that exclude adult content; now, therefore, be it

            Resolved by the House of Representatives, That we urge the United States Congress to take action to help stop children and employees from accessing internet pornography; and be it further

            Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of the Michigan congressional delegation.