North Carolina HB 8 (PAVE Act)

North Carolina, United StatesNC HB 8Updated January 1, 2024

100%became law
Bad for your rightsLaw
  1. Introduced
  2. Passed House
  3. Passed Senate
  4. Became Law

In force

North Carolina's adult-site age check, the PAVE Act, slipped into a larger bill and enforced through two kinds of private lawsuit.

Latest update

Took effect

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The bill

Read the full billOfficial bill record

Key facts

Where
North Carolina, United States
Bill number
NC HB 8
Status
Law
Threat
High
Last update
January 1, 2024

Topics

Age VerificationDigital ID

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What it does

North Carolina's PAVE Act, folded into House Bill 8, makes any commercial site with a substantial share of material harmful to minors verify a visitor is 18 with a commercial database or another commercially reasonable method. Two groups can sue: a parent whose child got access, and any person whose identifying data the site unlawfully kept.

What’s at stake

The second cause of action gives it away. By letting people sue over retained ID data, North Carolina admitted the age check itself creates a pile of sensitive records that can be mishandled. The fix for a privacy risk the state created is another lawsuit.

Our take

North Carolina attached the PAVE Act to an unrelated bill, which is how these mandates often travel. Writing a private lawsuit for retained ID data into the same law admits that age checks build exactly the identity trail that can leak.

Timeline

  1. Took effectLatest

  2. Signed into law (SL 2023-132)

The record

Sponsors

Rep. Erin Pare, Sen. Amy Galey

Votes

  • Senate: Passed (47 to 0), September 27, 2023
  • House: Passed (102 to 8), September 28, 2023