COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio lawmakers are introducing a bill to safeguard minors on online gaming apps after 17-year-old Hailey Buzbee was abducted, abused and killed.
On a snowy day in February, Hailey's body was found in Wayne National Forest in southern Ohio.
"These predators, they do the devil's work by hiding behind irresponsible social media and messaging apps, games and other platforms," Beau Buzbee, her father, said during a press conference at the Statehouse Friday.
Investigators say she was abducted from her home in Indiana by Tyler Thomas, 39, after meeting on online video games, including Roblox and League of Legends. On the first of February, he led officials to her body, but he has only been charged with federal sex crimes, not her death. The investigation is still ongoing, the FBI said in early February.
Buzbee, the dad, is working with Ohio lawmakers to prevent another tragedy.
"Hailey's Law... it turns unimaginable pain into protection for our other children," he said.
State Sens. Michele Reynolds (R-Canal Winchester) and Kristina Roegner (R-Hudson) are set to introduce a bill that would increase safety measures for kids on gaming platforms and require parental consent.
"When an account is created on an app store or a gaming platform, the provider must verify the user's age category, and if the user is a minor, that account must be linked to a verified parent account," Reynolds said.
If a game or an app makes a significant change, parents must be notified and consent again, she said.
Although the bill wasn't available for review on Friday, Reynolds explained that, among many provisions, it would require age-appropriate school instruction on what grooming is. Grooming is when an adult attempts to get close to a child in order to exploit them.
It would also create a “Pink Alert,” an enhanced and more widespread Amber Alert notification.
"A pink alert looks at today's risks for missing people and applies those and more quickly, more targeted and in the ways that we needed to based on today's risk," Buzbee said.
Although this proposal had been in the works for weeks, it meshes well with Gov. Mike DeWine's State of the State address. On Tuesday, the governor asked lawmakers to pass legislation requiring cell phone and tech companies to automatically implement parental control features, so that parents can easily monitor and control what content their kids use, when they use it, and for how long.
Even though he supports these ideas, House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) is concerned about the feasibility of parental monitoring software.
"We can't walk in and say, 'Are you watching your kid's phone because if you don't [there will be consequences]'" Huffman said. "I mean, the government doesn't have the means, but I don't think they have a constitutional authority."
Tech companies have been fighting back for years against Ohio’s attempts to restrict minors’ access to social media.
"We are also coming up against what's constitutional when it comes to privacy rights and First Amendment, speech and compelling and all of that," Reynolds said.
But she said her bill is not about attacking technology or telling people what to do; it's just about bringing Ohio laws up to date to safeguard children and teens in the new digital age.
"I can't change what happened to Haley as her father; there are still moments daily when my mind and heart try to believe that I can, until that reality once again knocks me to my knees," Buzbee said, taking a pause to gather his emotions. "But I can fight to make sure that Haley's story and her legacy helps to protect other children."
The bill was recently passed in Indiana, Hailey's home state.
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