|
|
| Also listed in: Ohio Bloggers |
Categories: Civil Liberties/Privacy, Consumer and Worker Protection, Women's Issues
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said he doesn't enjoy spending hours dealing with a strip-club bill that he thinks is probably unconstitutional.
"I think there are concerns about the provisions, but a lot of (lawmakers) who have concerns are relatively certain the courts will strike them down," said Rep. Louis Blessing, a Republican from Cincinnati.
Opponents of the bill, calling themselves Dancers for Democracy, planned a downtown event for today.
Blessing, a lawyer, said yesterday that amendments might be needed to satisfy concerns about the bill's constitutionality. His committee spent six hours hearing testimony last week on Senate Bill 16, created through a petition by the conservative Citizens for Community Values. The bill says dancers cannot come within 6 feet of patrons, and it would close strip clubs or adult book and toy stores at midnight.
Blessing said the Cincinnati-based group gathered signatures and deserves a vote, which could come next week. But he's not satisfied with the bill as written, and he said he wishes he were spending his time dealing with more important matters.
"I've got bills dealing with foreclosure and a lot of other things that are important right now," he said.
Blessing and others, including fellow committee member Rep. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, are concerned the bill applies the 6-foot distance limit to nude dancers even when they have stopped dancing and are no longer nude.
"I have some serious concerns about whether we can pass a bill that requires people to have a 6-foot ring around them, even when they're off-duty and fully clothed," Blessing said. "I think there's a good chance the courts would throw that out."
Seitz called the issue "a difficult concept to get your hands around. Didn't anybody ever go to a high school prom? There was certainly lots of groping going on within a 6-foot distance then."
Both Seitz and Blessing are concerned the bill overreaches.
Seitz said officials from Citizens for Community Values have argued their bill is more effective than current law, which allows townships to set up a state-crafted strip-club law with defense help from county prosecutors or the state attorney general's office. The group says local governments would be better protected against lawsuits under statewide regulations.
"That might be correct, if it's legal," Seitz said. "My view is it puts us on a slippery slope from a legal perspective and runs the risk of going overboard."
Seitz said he has heard credible arguments to kill the bill, amend it, or pass it as written and let the courts hash it out.
Blessing said it might be amended: "You can reduce the 6-feet rule, but I don't know what the magic number there is."
Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values, said if he can't live with changes to the bill, he has volunteers ready in 70 counties to collect another 123,000 signatures to put it on the November ballot. The Senate passed the bill in mid-April without changes.
"We are very confident it's going to pass the House," Burress said.
Owners of strip clubs have argued that the bill would put them out of business. Gov. Ted Strickland has not taken a position on the bill.
