BATON ROUGE — A bill that would expand Louisiana's child sexual abuse material law to cover images generated by artificial intelligence advanced out of a Senate committee Tuesday, but not before lawmakers heard a warning that courts could strike it down.
Senate Bill 42, authored by state Sen. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge, who represents District 6, was reported favorably by the Senate Judiciary C committee on a voice vote with no amendments.
Edmonds, who is also running for Louisiana's 5th Congressional District seat, told the committee he filed the bill after reading about a Lafourche Parish case in which a male student was arrested on 10 counts of unlawfully spreading explicit images of classmates created using AI. At least eight middle school girls and two adults were depicted in the fake photos, which circulated on social media.
"Something has to be done," Edmonds told the committee. "We can't allow our children" to be exploited this way.
Under current Louisiana law, child sexual abuse material is defined as photographs, videos, films, or other reproductions of sexual performances involving children. SB 42 would add digitally generated visual depictions, including those created by AI, to that definition, and would make "causing artificial intelligence to generate" such material a form of production under the proposed law.
The bill drew support from the Louisiana Family Forum, the Louisiana Sheriffs Association, the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the Entertainment Software Association, among others.
David Ferris, commander of the Internet Crimes Against Children task force in the Louisiana Attorney General's Office, testified to the committee that the technology has advanced to the point where even investigators struggle to tell real images from AI-generated ones.
"I could put two photographs in front of you, and you could not tell me which one was computer-generated," Ferris said. He also warned that AI models generating abuse material are trained on real images of children, further complicating efforts to draw a legal line between what is and isn't a "real" victim.
But the bill also drew constitutional concerns. Megan Garvey, representing the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, cited the 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, which struck down a federal law banning virtual child pornography that did not involve actual children. Garvey said the bill would be on a stronger legal footing if it were limited to cases involving a real, identifiable child.
The ACLU of Louisiana echoed that concern, with lobbyist Sarah Whittington saying she opposed the bill as written due to its breadth, though she said a more targeted version could earn the organization's support.
Committee chairman Jay Morris, R-West Monroe, pushed back on the constitutional concerns. "Everybody wants to protect civil liberties, but whose liberties are we protecting here?" he asked. "Somebody to produce this kind of material?"
Edmonds acknowledged the concerns in his closing remarks and pledged to continue working with the Louisiana Attorney General's office and with Sen. Heather Cloud, who carried a companion bill also heard Tuesday, to strengthen the legislation before it reaches the full Senate.
"A really good bill is a process," Edmonds said. "I give you my word, I'll work on that. Whatever it takes to get it done."
SB 42 now heads to the full Senate. If passed and signed by the governor, it would take effect Aug. 1.
