Minn. House Anti-Hotel Porn Bill Defeated

Senate version is still in play; would prevent state employees from staying a in-state hotels that have pay-per-view 'violent' porn

ST PAUL, MN—A Minnesota House committee has voted down a bill that would have prevented state employees from using state funds at hotels or meeting facilities in the state that provide pay-per-view violent porn for guests.

The bill, HF 3287, which was introduced on March 1 by Rep. Larry Haws (DFL-St. Cloud), was taken up Wednesday morning by the State and Local Government Operations Reform, Technology and Elections Committee, but didn’t make it out.

The Senate version, SF 2861, was introduced in late February by Sen. Tarryl Clark ( DFL-St. Cloud), and passed the State and Local Government Operations and Oversight Committee last week.

Language from the House version included:

Constitutional officers, members of the legislature, an agency and its employees must ask if a facility is a preferred site and must use a preferred site when selecting lodging or facilities for state employees traveling on state business and when selecting facilities for conferences, meetings, education or training sessions, and similar events in Minnesota sponsored by state agencies unless:

* A preferred site is not available to the employee traveling on state business within a reasonable distance from the location where the employee is conducting state business, or;

* The cost of the preferred site exceeds the cost for comparable services at a non-preferred site.

And:

"Preferred site" means lodging that can demonstrate, upon request, that it has adopted clean hotel policies and procedures;

"Clean hotel policies and procedures" means reasonable policies and procedures that eliminate within the facility the availability of sexually explicit work with depictions of sexual conduct that objectifies and exploits its subjects by eroticizing domination, degradation, or violence.

For the purposes of the law, "pornographic image or performance” was defined as a sexually explicit image or performance that objectifies or exploits its subjects by eroticizing domination, degradation or violence.

The Senate version awaits a final vote.