House Committee Fails to Pass Bill That Would Address Obscenity at Libraries

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Above: Family Council staff member Luke McCoy was among those who testified in favor of S.B. 81 at Tuesday’s committee meeting.

On Tuesday the House Judiciary Committee failed to pass a measure that would address obscene material in libraries across Arkansas.

S.B. 81 by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R – Russellville) and Rep. Justin Gonzales (R – Okolona) prohibits giving or sending harmful sexual material to a child.

The bill eliminates exemptions for libraries and schools in the state’s obscenity statute, and it clarifies how library patrons can work to remove objectionable material from a library’s catalog.

As we have written before, the Jonesboro public library has been at the center of multiple controversies over its decision to place books with sexually-explicit images in its children’s section and for failing to adopt a policy that separates sexual material from children’s content.

The library in Jonesboro went so far as to post on Facebook that it isn’t the library’s responsibility to protect kids from obscenity.

Other public libraries in Arkansas have failed to separate sexual material from children’s material as well.

More and more, Family Council is hearing from people who are deeply troubled by the obscene children’s books that librarians have placed on the shelves of their local libraries.

Some of the people who have testified publicly against S.B. 81 this year have signaled that they want to be free to share obscene material with children at a library.

S.B. 81 is a good bill that would help prevent that.

Unfortunately, the bill failed to pass on a voice vote at Tuesday morning’s House Judiciary Committee meeting, but it could come back up later in the session.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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House Rules Committee Unanimously Passes Bill Protecting Children From Internet Pornography

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On Wednesday the House Rules Committee unanimously passed legislation to help protect children from pornography online.

S.B. 66 by Sen. Tyler Dees (R – Siloam Springs) and Rep. Mindy McAlindon (R – Centerton) requires pornographic websites to implement an age verification process to protect children from pornography.

This good bill passed with nearly unanimous support in the Arkansas Senate earlier this month. On Wednesday it passed unanimously in the House Rules Committee as well.

S.B. 66 requires pornographic websites to verify users are 18 or older using a government-issued ID or another commercially available age-verification method.

In practice, this means porn sites would rely on IDs like a driver’s license to prevent minors from accessing pornographic material online.

Websites that violate S.B. 66 would be held liable under the law.

Similar legislation has been offered in other states.

Technology has given children unprecedented access to pornography. Among other things, pornography is believed to contribute to mental health problems.

S.B. 66 would help address this problem in Arkansas.

Now that the bill has passed in the House Rules Committee, S.B. 66 goes to the entire Arkansas House of Representatives for consideration.

Below is a list of the members of the House Rules Committee:

  • Representative DeAnn Vaught
  • Representative Shad Pearce
  • Representative Frances Cavenaugh
  • Representative Carol Dalby
  • Representative Matt Duffield
  • Representative Jon S. Eubanks
  • Representative Kenneth B. Ferguson
  • Representative Lanny Fite
  • Representative Mike Holcomb
  • Representative Lane Jean
  • Representative Stephen Magie
  • Representative Jeremiah Moore
  • Representative Milton Nicks, Jr.
  • Representative Dwight Tosh
  • Representative Jeff Wardlaw

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Legislators in Kansas, Mississippi, Kentucky File Measures Similar to S.B. 66 Protecting Children from Pornography

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Legislators in other states have filed bills similar to a measure in Arkansas that would protect children from pornography online.

S.B. 66 by Sen. Tyler Dees (R – Siloam Springs) and Rep. Mindy McAlindon (R – Centerton) requires pornographic websites to implement an age verification process to protect children from pornography.

The bill passed with nearly unanimous support in the Arkansas Senate earlier this month, but it failed in the House Rules Committee on Wednesday when none of the committee members who were at the committee meeting made a motion to pass the bill.

Family Council has identified legislation filed in Kansas, Kentucky, and Mississippi this year that is nearly identical to S.B. 66.

These good bills require pornographic websites to verify that users are 18 or older. Websites that fail to do so could be held liable under the law.

All of these bills are modeled after a law that Louisiana passed last year. That good law has caused the world’s largest porn site to start verifying that users from Louisiana are over the age of 18.

Arkansas has an opportunity to be a leader this year by passing legislation that will help protect children from pornography online. S.B. 66 is a good bill that will do exactly that.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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