HCS SS SCS SB 586 & 617 -- SEXUALLY ORIENTED BUSINESSES

SPONSOR:  Bartle (Emery)

COMMITTEE ACTION:  Voted "do pass" by the Committee on Small
Business by a vote of 10 to 2.

This substitute regulates sexually oriented businesses by
limiting their geographic location, ownership interests, state of
dress and actions of persons within the sexually oriented
business, minimum age of patrons, use or sale of alcohol on site,
hours of operation, and location of private viewing booths within
the sexually oriented business and specifies the penalties for
violations of these restrictions.  Nothing in the substitute will
be construed as preempting or preventing any political
subdivision from maintaining, enacting, or enforcing a provision
which is stricter than but not inconsistent with these
provisions.

FISCAL NOTE:  No impact on state funds in FY 2011, FY 2012, and
FY 2013.

PROPONENTS:  Supporters say that the bill will provide
communities with a measure of security from sexually oriented
businesses.  In recent years, these businesses have migrated from
limited urban districts into other areas of the state and
increased their advertising to a level which is a concern for
many citizens.  They have opened businesses along Missouri's
highways and airports and put up aggressive and very explicit
billboards.  The bill establishes recognizable, definable
community standards because there are very clear secondary and
tertiary effects on communities where sexually oriented
businesses are located.  It does not violate the constitutional
right to free speech, and the language has already cleared the
court system.  The bill will allow limited zoning powers
regarding these businesses even if there is not countywide zoning
which is very important in many rural communities.

Testifying for the bill were Senator Bartle; John L. Putnam,
Citizens for a Decent Environment; Dr. John P. Splinter, National
Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families; Missouri
Family Network; Missouri Baptist Convention, Christian Life
Commission; Missouri Family Policy Council; James Valenti;
Kathleen Henry; Merre Putnam; Darcie and Henry Ball; I. J.
Morrison; Mary Anne Hodge; Concerned Women for America of
Missouri; Stephana Landwehr; Joyce Bayliss; Marcus Bayliss;
Cynthia McGree; Mitchell Hubbard; Gary Foland; Ronald Cawood;
Diane Foland; Robert and Joan Bechtold; Joseph Vincent; Steven
Boony; Joseph Dandolf; Yummy Pandolf; Daniel and Mary McKinnis;
Lisa Payne-Naeger; Karen Brown; Grover Pierce; Gina Allen; Haven
Howard; Laurel Morton; Rhonda Nikelaisen; Valinda Freed; Rick
Mantigne; Vicky Schneller; Sue Stoltz; Dons Petzold; and Russell
Freed.

OPPONENTS:  Those who oppose the bill say that it
unconstitutionally infringes upon a content-based form of
expression, it will have an adverse economic impact on local
economies, the "secondary effects" studies have not been
scientifically rigorous, and the regulation of sexually oriented
businesses should be done at the local level.

Testifying against the bill were Mo McCullough, Missouri
Association of Club Executives; Daniel Linz; Nellie Symm-
Gruender, Passions Video, Incorporated, Passions, Too, Passions
in Columbia; Angelina Spencer; Jessica Stafford; Krystina Lavely;
Lauren June Kellermann; and American Civil Liberties Union of
Eastern Missouri.

Missouri House of Representatives
95th General Assembly, 2nd Regular Session
Last Updated September 14, 2010 at 3:14 pm