HR4518-119

What This Bill Does

The Cooper Davis and Devin Norring Act adds Controlled Substances Act section 521 for online provider reporting. Electronic communication service and remote computing service providers must report to the Attorney General as soon as reasonably possible, and no later than 60 days after actual knowledge, when facts or circumstances establish crimes involving manufacture, distribution, dispensing, or possession with intent involving fentanyl, methamphetamine, counterfeit substances, counterfeit prescription drugs, or unauthorized actual or purported prescription pain medication or prescription stimulants. Providers may also voluntarily report based on reasonable belief. Reports must include provider contact information, reasonably available account identifiers such as name, address, email, user ID, IP address, URL, screen names, monikers, and related identifiers, and whether the facts were found by human moderation or a non-human method such as an algorithm or machine learning. Providers may include timestamps, geolocation, VPN information, symbols, photos, videos, icons, direct messages, complete communications, and attached digital files. The Attorney General must preliminarily review reports, investigate or share sufficient reports with federal, state, or local law enforcement, close insufficient reports, limit storage to what is reasonably necessary, and delete reports when no longer needed unless they have evidentiary value. Providers that knowingly fail to file required reports face fines up to $190,000 for an initial violation and $380,000 for repeat violations, while knowingly false or incomplete reports can trigger civil penalties of $50,000 to $100,000.

Who Benefits and How

Families harmed by illicit fentanyl sales benefit from mandatory online provider reporting of actual knowledge of covered drug crimes. Federal drug investigators benefit from provider account identifiers, URLs, IP addresses, timestamps, geolocation, and moderation-source information. State and local law enforcement agencies benefit when the Attorney General shares reports that warrant further investigation. Online users benefit from retention limits requiring reports to be stored only as long as reasonably necessary unless they have evidentiary value.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Electronic communication service providers must file required reports within 60 days after actual knowledge of covered drug crimes. Remote computing service providers must gather and transmit reasonably available account and moderation information. The Attorney General must review, route, retain, delete, and enforce provider reports. Providers face fines up to $190,000 for an initial knowing failure and $380,000 for repeat failures, plus $50,000 to $100,000 for knowingly false or incomplete reports.

Key Provisions

• Requires provider reports to the Attorney General within 60 days after actual knowledge of covered fentanyl, methamphetamine, counterfeit-drug, or unauthorized prescription-drug crimes.
• Allows voluntary reports when a provider reasonably believes covered facts or circumstances exist.
• Requires reasonably available account identifiers and moderation-source information while allowing optional content, geolocation, timestamp, and complete-communication information.
• Requires Attorney General preliminary review, investigation or referral, closure of insufficient reports, storage limits, deletion, and enforcement.
• Provides civil fines for knowing failure to report and civil penalties for knowingly false or incomplete reports.