BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1179|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1179
Author: Yee (D)
Amended: 9/8/05 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 4-0, 9/8/05
AYES: Dunn, Cedillo, Escutia, Kuehl
NO VOTE RECORDED: Morrow, Ackerman, Figueroa
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not relevant
SUBJECT : Violent video games
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This is a new bill. Prior to the Senate Floor
Amendments of 9/2/05, this bill authorized foster parents,
under certain conditions, to administer injections for
diabetes shock or other prescribed medication to a foster
child.
Senate Floor Amendments of 9/8/05 made a technical change
by adding a co-author.
Senate Floor Amendments of 9/2/05 now constitute that bill.
The amendments insert language located in AB 450 (Yee),
which is on third reading in the Assembly. As amended,
this bill makes legislative findings that prolonged
exposure to violent video games may increase feelings of
aggression and cause psychological harm to minors, and that
CONTINUED
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the state has a compelling interest in preventing such
harms. The bill makes it unlawful for a person to sell or
rent a video game that is labeled as a "violent video
game," as defined, to a minor under 18 years old. The bill
also requires specified labeling for the purpose of
identifying violent video games.
ANALYSIS : Existing law regulates the sale of certain
merchandise, such as political items and sports
memorabilia.
This bill requires violent video games to be labeled as
specified and would prohibit the sale or rental of those
violent video games, as defined, to minors. The bill
provides that a person who violates the act shall be liable
in an amount of up to $1,000 for each violation.
The bill contains the following findings and declarations:
1.Exposing minors to depictions of violence in video games,
including sexual and heinous violence, makes those minors
more likely to experience feelings of aggression, to
experience a reduction of activity in the frontal lobes
of the brain, and to exhibit violent antisocial or
aggressive behavior.
2.Even minors who do not commit acts of violence suffer
psychological harm from prolonged exposure to violent
video games.
3.The state has a compelling interest in preventing
violent, aggressive, and antisocial behavior, and in
preventing psychological or neurological harm to minors
who play violent video games.
"Violent video game" means a video game in which the range
of options available to a player includes killing, maiming,
dismembering, or sexually assaulting an image of a human
being, if those acts are depicted in the game in a manner
that does either of the following:
1.Comes within all of the following descriptions:
A. A reasonable person, considering the game as a
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whole, would find appeals to a deviant or morbid
interest of minors.
B. It is patently offensive to prevailing standards in
the community as to what is suitable for minors.
C. It causes the game, as a whole, to lack serious
literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for
minors.
2.Enables the player to virtually inflict serious injury
upon images of human beings or characters with
substantially human characteristics in a manner which is
especially heinous, cruel, or depraved in that it
involves torture or serious physical abuse to the victim.
A suspected violation of this bill may be reported to a
city attorney, county counsel, or district attorney by a
parent, legal guardian, or other adult acting on behalf of
a minor to whom a violent video game has been sold or
rented. A violation of this title may be prosecuted by any
city attorney, county counsel, or district attorney.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/30/05)(as listed on the Assembly
Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism and Internet Media
Committee analysis for AB 450)
Honorable Cruz Bustamante, Lieutenant Governor
American Academy of Pediatrics
California Alliance Against Domestic Violence
California Commission on the Status of Women
California Psychiatric Association
California Psychological Association
California State Conference of the National Association of
Colored People
California State PTA
Capitol Resource Institute
Common Sense Media
Feather River College
Friends Committee on Legislation
Girl Scout Councils of California
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Junior Leagues of California State Public Affairs Committee
Maidu Cultural & Development Group
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.
Northern California Society of Public Health Educators
Parents Television Council
PLS-Domestic Violence Services
Plumas County Child Care and Development Planning Council
Portola C.A.R.E.S. Resource Center
Santa Clara County After-School Collaborative
Sierra Valley Even Start Family Literacy Program
Stanislaus County Children's Council
Support Network for Battered Women
Sutter Lakeside Community Services
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/30/05)(as listed on the
Assembly Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism and Internet
Media Committee analysis for AB 450)
American Civil Liberties Union
American Electronics Association
California Broadcasters Association
California Chamber of Commerce
California Retailers Association
Entertainment Software Association
Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association
Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association
International Game Developers Association
Motion Picture Association
National Association of Theatre Owners of California/Nevada
Recording Industry Association of America
The Media Coalition
Video Software Dealers Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office indicates that
the purpose of this bill is to "keep children from being
able to purchase ultra-violent video games, which can be
harmful to their mental well being, without their parent's
knowledge."
The author's office reports that "since teens are wiring
the circuits for self control, responsibility and
relationships they will carry with them into adulthood,
they are more impressionable than we thought. Active
participation by youth in playing violent video games has a
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greater impact than watching television. Youth choose
actions where they are rewarded for causing violence to
another character. Repetition greatly increases learning
and also causes youth to identify with the aggressor in the
game. Dozens of studies on violent video games, including
an analysis of 86 independent samples with 11,014
participants, show five major effects: playing violent
games leads to increased physiological arousal, increased
aggressive thoughts, increased aggressive feelings,
increased aggressive behaviors, and decreased pro-social or
helping behaviors (Anderson, 2004; Anderson, et. al. 2004;
Anderson & Bushman, 2001, Uhlmann & Swanson, 2004). These
studies prove causation of aggression through experimental
studies (that show playing violent games actually causes
increases in aggression), real-world aggression through
correlational studies (where long-term relations between
game play and real-world aggression can be shown), and
include several longitudinal studies (where changes in
children's aggressive behaviors can be demonstrated).
Furthermore, students who played more violent video games
had greater involvement in physical fights (Gentile,
2004), became desensitized to violence, and developed
pro-violence attitudes and increased tolerance of violence
(Funk, 2004). The American Academy of Pediatrics Policy
Statement on Media Violence stated that playing violent
video games accounts for a 13 percent to 22 percent
increase in adolescents' violent behavior. When
considering the negative impact violent video games have on
youth, the evidence is strong: playing violent video games
has more effect on increased youth aggression than
second-hand smoke has on causing cancer, or lead exposure
links to decreased IQ (Anderson, 2004).
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The California Retailers
Association (CRA) argues that the bill "uses phrases that
require subjective interpretation, judgment, constructs,
opinion, valuation, appraisal and an ability to gauge
measures and norms that are not within the capability or
purview of a retailer." The CRA also opines that the bill
"would require retailers to individually play/view all
video games they sell and make individual and independent
determinations whether each game fits the criteria for
'violent'" (e.g. "what is 'patently offensive to community
standards'" or to "judge a game's artistic or literary
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value?[or] 'interpret mental torture'").
RJG:nl 9/22/05 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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