02/11/1994 09:10 AM Senate STA

 Hearing none, the chairman announces the committee will stand at              
 ease to wait for Senator Lincoln to arrive for SB 216.                        
                                                                               
 Number 546                                                                    
                                                                               
 CHAIRMAN LEMAN calls the Senate State Affairs Committee back to               
 order and announces the committee will now hear SB 216 (DISPLAY SEX           
 EXPLICIT MATERIALS NEAR MINOR).  The chairman calls Senator Lincoln           
 to the table.                                                                 
                                                                               
 Number 539                                                                    
                                                                               
 SENATOR LINCOLN reads the sponsor statement for SB 216.  The                  
 senator shows a xerox copy of a magazine cover and explains the               
 magazine was displayed right next to the children's toys, on the              
 same level with the children's toys in a drugstore in her district.           
 Alaska does not presently have an obscenity law, or any law                   
 pertaining to harmful materials.  SB 261 was fashioned, to some               
 extent, after existing laws in other states.  Anchorage, Ketchikan,           
 and Palmer currently have municipal ordinances which address                  
 obscene materials, but none of those ordinances specifically                  
 address the display of obscene materials within view of children.             
                                                                               
 Number 480                                                                    
                                                                               
 SENATOR LINCOLN draws the committee's attention to page 2, line 6,            
 paragraph 2 of SB 216, which states, "a parent or guardian of a               
 minor who provides material harmful to minors to the minor."  The             
 senator says she does not favor that paragraph, but that its                  
 inclusion was recommended by the legislative drafter, so as not to            
 infringe on the rights of parents.  The senator would feel content            
 if the committee wanted to exclude paragraph 2.                               
                                                                               
 Number 463                                                                    
                                                                               
 CHAIRMAN LEMAN calls Leigh Ann Barnes to testify.                             
                                                                               
 Number 458                                                                    
                                                                               
 LEIGH ANN BARNES, Cordova City Child Sexual Abuse, testifying from            
 Cordova, states she worked in the drugstore that Senator Lincoln              
 mentioned in her testimony.  Ms. Barnes says it has been documented           
 that 80% of rapists admitted to using pornography regularly, with             
 57% of those rapists admitting to actual imitation of pornography             
 scenes in commission of sex crimes.  There are more outlets for               
 hard-core pornography in the United States than there are                     
 McDonald's restaurants.  Ms. Barnes says she has a long list of               
 statistics, which she won't read.  Ms. Barnes states SB 216 is long           
 over-due.                                                                     
                                                                               
 Number 420                                                                    
                                                                               
 CHAIRMAN LEMAN thanks Ms. Barnes for her testimony and asks which             
 drugstore she referred to in her testimony.                                   
                                                                               
 Number 414                                                                    
                                                                               
 MS. BARNES responds that the store she referred to is Cordova Drug            
 Company.                                                                      
                                                                               
 Number 413                                                                    
                                                                               
 CHAIRMAN LEMAN asks why SB 216 exempts schools, religious                     
 institutions, etcetera, when the material is provided as an                   
 official function.  He wants to know when it would ever be an                 
 official function for these groups to provide this type of material           
 to a minor.                                                                   
                                                                               
 Number 403                                                                    
                                                                               
 SENATOR LINCOLN says the exemptions were discussed with the                   
 legislative drafter, and the reason for the exemptions is that a              
 state cannot tell a school or a religious organization what                   
 material they can or cannot use.  What material institutions use is           
 up to the particular institution.                                             
                                                                               
 Number 390                                                                    
                                                                               
 CHAIRMAN LEMAN disagrees, saying the three-part test should be                
 applicable to these organizations also.                                       
                                                                               
 Number 381                                                                    
                                                                               
 SENATOR LINCOLN thinks the law excludes schools, religious                    
 organizations, etcetera, so they can carry medical texts and                  
 psychological texts that might have examples of pornography.  The             
 exemption isn't there in order to allow these places to carry                 
 pornographic magazines.  However, there will always be textbooks              
 that will be in question.                                                     
                                                                               
 Number 373                                                                    
                                                                               
 CHAIRMAN LEMAN thinks there is a clear distinction between the                
 display of nudity in a medical journal and the type of thing Ms.              
 Barnes described.  The chairman notes the committee is looking at             
 an amendment which would incorporate in the bill the labeling of              
 videos, audiotapes, and CD's if they contain sexually explicit                
 material or violence.                                                         
                                                                               
 Number 351                                                                    
                                                                               
 SENATOR LINCOLN states she would have no objection to that                    
 amendment being added to SB 216.                                              
                                                                               
 Number 350                                                                    
                                                                               
 CHAIRMAN LEMAN thanks Senator Lincoln for her testimony.