Senate Bill 0257 and its companion, House Bill 0624, were filed in the 106th General Assembly. It was passed by the Senate Commerce, Labor and Agriculture Committee but was withdrawn from consideration by the House sponsors. (Review the final version of the bill as presented to the Senate committee.)

If the bill is presented to the 107th General Assembly, its sole purpose will be to make it clear that it is unlawful to broadcast by public television, cable or satellite, material that is obscene and therefore not protected by the First Amendment and otherwise illegal.

The Problem

While network programming (e.g. CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox) are subject to prosecution for the broadcast or transmission of obscene programming, cable and satellite television are not subject to the FCC in the same way. In fact, federal law has not pre-empted state law on the subject of obscenity with respect to cable television. Furthermore, the federal government over the last decade has not made the prosecution of anything but child pornography a priority, leaving illegal obscenity to flourish to the detriment of families and society. Thus, it is important that the state be able to prosecute obscenity.

Absent a state law on this matter it is not clear that local District Attorneys could prosecute cable or satellite television for broadcasting or transmitting illegal obscenity.

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Human sexuality