Senate passes bill banning ads for "?Girls Gone Wild'
Sen. Doug Jackson said his bill represents "?an effort to push back' at out-of-state pornography distributors making millions of dollars off unsuspecting young women.
By HANK HAYES [email protected]
The Tennessee Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed the so-called "Girls Gone Wild"? bill banning late-night TV ads showing half-naked young women, although the bill's companion legislation couldn't get out of a House subcommittee.
Advocates of the legislation, sponsored by state Sen. Doug Jackson, said their fight isn't over.
"There will be another day and another opportunity, and I'm fairly confident that we will be able to present a compelling case ... to get this passed in January,"? said Jackson, D-Dickson.
Jackson's bill failed for lack of a seconding motion in a House Judiciary Subcommittee last month amid concerns that it was constitutionally suspect. State Rep. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, is a member of that subcommittee.
The bill would have fined cable and satellite TV companies up to $50,000 for airing ads for obscene products. The fine would have doubled to a maximum of $100,000 if the ads involved minor children.
According to the bill, present federal law requires any entity that produces sexually explicit material to, among other things, identify all performers involved in the material. Present state law makes it illegal for a person to produce obscene materials that do not comply with the federal law.
Jackson contended that TV infomercials selling pornography shouldn't happen "? even in the middle of the night.
"Who would have ever dreamed 10 years ago that satellite and cable companies would be advertising obscenity "? the sale of an obscene product "? through our television sets into our living rooms?"? he said. "This is not scheduled programming. A V-chip doesn't work. This is simply an advertisement that is sprung on the viewer and on the family. You may hear comments that "?Well it's only shown at certain hours' ... (but) the sale of obscenity shouldn't occur at any time. There are areas around the country where these advertisements run 24 hours a day."?
Jackson told Senate lawmakers that his bill represents "an effort to push back"? at out-of-state pornography distributors
making millions of dollars off unsuspecting young women.
"It's a statement hopefully by this Senate and ultimately by this legislature that there is a limit of what you can bring into the living rooms of families in this country,"? he said. "Obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment. It's never been protected by the First Amendment. If the product being advertised is not obscene, then there is nothing to worry about for that company that sells that product or the companies that choose to make a profit from the sale by selling advertisements. ... Will we allow community standards to be usurped by out-ofstate pornographers? ... Are we going to allow them to advertise illegal drugs, illegal weapons? Where does that stop?"?
For more about the bill go to http://www.legislature.state.tn.us and click on "Legislation."? The bill's number is SB 0014.
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