CSSSHB 487 (L&C) - SALE/DISPLAY OF MATERIAL HARMFUL TO MINORS CHAIRMAN PORTER announced the committee would consider CSSSHB 487. JACK PHELPS, Legislative Aide to Representative Pete Kott, explained the principle change in the proposed committee substitute relates to comments that developed in the committee. The principle change to the substance of the bill in terms of the codified part of the bill is in Section 2. That change just rolled "rental" and "display for rental" into the bill. He said the definitions weren't changed or anything else in the bill. The provisions of the bill that apply to "sale" will now also apply to "rental." The parts that apply to "display for sale," now also apply to "display for rental." Mr. Phelps said the other changes in the committee substitute incorporate changes in the findings and intent section, Section 1. Granted that findings and intent sometimes are window dressing, when you are dealing with issues such as this that have a direct effect on first amendment rights and constitutional issues, they can serve a useful purpose. Mr. Phelps stated one of the concerns expressed by the committee was whether or not the provisions of this bill would apply to a particular article in Reader's Digest or the cover of Cosmopolitan. He said he tried to address that by ruling language into the intent section that highlights the "taken as a whole" provisions of the bill. He referred to 2, line 2 and said the bill now reads "The legislature intends that the definition of "material harmful to minors" be narrowly construed, so it does not apply to materials in general circulation that contain only relatively brief passages, or incidental descriptions of material harmful to minors; and the legislature intends that the phrase taken as a whole in the definition of material harmful to minors be applied in a broad sense so as not to unduly restrict access to materials that have serious literary or scientific, educational, artistic, or political value." MR. PHELPS said the bill deals with material deemed harmful to minors. Essentially, using a classic obscenity definition is not trying to deal with material that would be inappropriate for minors. That is a distinction that would be helpful for the committee to keep in mind. MR. PHELPS referred to the third issue raised by the committee as to whether or not there was a scienter provision. He referred to page 2, line 13, where it clearly says, "knowingly." Number 372 CHAIRMAN PORTER understood that the clerk at the book cache that has 500 paperbacks displayed does not have to read each one to find out if there are any passages that fits the categories. MR. PHELPS said he believes that is correct. Number 380 REPRESENTATIVE JAMES moved to adopt CSSSHB 487 (JUD). Hearing no objection, the motion carried. She then moved to pass CSSSHB 487 (JUD), out of committee with individual recommendations and zero fiscal notes. Number 392 REPRESENTATIVE GREEN objected. His concern was it may create litigation. Number 398 MR. PHELPS stated that it appears to be the belief of the Department of Law, since they have moved from a fiscal note that had "X's" in it, to a fiscal note that has a zero, that this bill has now been carefully drafted to align itself with a whole series of Supreme Court cases. He believes the opportunity for litigation is minimal. That belief is strengthened by the fact that the industry essentially has said they do not see any serious problems with the bill as it is currently drafted. The chance for litigation is always there, but has been considerably minimized by the care in crafting this according to court instructions. Number 413 CHAIRMAN PORTER asked if there was further discussion. There being none, he asked if there was still an objection. Hearing no further objection, the CSSSHB 487 passed out of the House Judiciary Committee.