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| P. O. Box 911111, Lexington, KY 40591 |
Phone: 859-255-5400
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Click
here for more
information on SB 95
ACT NOW ON SENATE BILL 95!
Senate Bill 95 — The Public Decency Act
sponsored by Sen. Julie
Denton (R-Louisville)
PURPOSE:
The bill’s two points are virtually common sense: 1) no performer can dance totally nude, and 2) no performer can have physical contact with a patron (patrons must remain 6 feet away from any perfomer). The second component of the regulation has become even more important in recent years with the epidemics of various sexually transmitted diseases and with the excesses that some sexually oriented businesses have encouraged with their personal "lap dances" and "couch dances."BILL HISTORY:
Though the language has been simplified and its goals much more modest, a version of the bill has been introduced in the legislature in 10 of the last 11 years. Recent years has had Rep. Ruth Ann Palumbo (D-Lexington) as the primary sponsor but Sen. Denton assumed responsibility last year when Rep. Palumbo experienced a death in the family. Each year the Public Decency Act was sent to the so- called "graveyard committee" — the House Judiciary Committee — of Rep. Gross Lindsay (D-Henderson), where it died without a vote, receiving a hearing only once.EXPECTATION:
This could be the year for passage with Rep. Lindsay no longer the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Rep. Kathy Stein (D-Lexington) is the new chairperson and though she prides herself as being very liberal she has also pledged to give each bill a fair chance. This bill will be an excellent test of her commitment.BACKGROUND:
Seven more Kentucky counties have taken significant action to restrict sexually oriented businesses (SOB’s) from encroaching on their communities in the last quarter of 2006 and in the first weeks of 2007. Garrard, Franklin, Owen and Magoffin counties passed ordinances in late 2006 that ban total nudity and public sexual activity, limit hours of operation and keep out minors. Martin, Leslie and Perry Counties are currently in the process of enacting the popular regulations that have swept the state.Local leaders got a boost from the Kentucky Supreme Court on Nov. 22, 2006 when it ruled unanimously in favor of McCracken County’s SOB ordinance — a measure that served as a model for 91 other counties that have enacted similar comprehensive restrictions since, bringing the total to 109 counties with a comprehensive ordinance. Hart County started the trend in January 2004 and now only 11 counties remain without.
A Paducah strip club owner argued that the McCracken ordinance was invalid because they relied on secondary effects studies from other cities. Shea Nickell, Assistant McCracken County Attorney at the time, argued the pivotal case. "If local municipalities were required to initiate their own studies to support their ordinance, it would make it financially impossible because of the expenses involved," Nickell said. "It didn’t seem reasonable to place that burden on every municipality, and it would financially preclude other municipalities from enacting the ordinance."
Nickell, who was recently elected to the Kentucky Court of Appeals, was elated with the 7-0 ruling.
Justice Will Scott wrote ". . . that the ordinance furthers the county’s substantial governmental interest in preventing and combating the negative secondary effects associated with sexually oriented businesses." Numerous studies indicate that secondary effects of SOB’s include: decreased property values, economic blight, increased crime and facilitating the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
The widespread passage of local SOB regulations coupled with the Supreme
Court ruling gives momentum to family advocates who are working for a state
public decency bill which would bolster the efforts of county officials.
ACTION:
Please call the toll free legislative message line –
1-800-372-7181
– and leave this message for your representative:
"Please
pass Senate Bill 95 — The Public
Decency Act. Women need protection from the excesses of the strip bar industry
and counties need the undergirding of a state law as they regulate adult
businesses."
The message line is open from 7:30 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday and until 6:00 p.m. EST on Friday.
