PHOENIX — Republican state senators urge Arizona governor to sign bill to end K-12 school pornography practice, which is currently not permitted or encouraged in public schools in the state ing.
Senator Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek) released a statement earlier this week asking Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs to sign it. Senate Bill 1696This makes it illegal to film or facilitate sexually explicit acts on land owned, leased or controlled by the state of Arizona or any other government agency.
But the bill also prohibits employees of government agencies in the state from introducing sexually explicit material to minors, allowing public librarians to distribute some classics to teens. It may also be impossible to introduce them to literary works and informative books on reproduction and puberty.
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“I think we are well prepared to deal with both issues at once,” Hoffman told a Senate government committee in February. “We do not want minors in Arizona to be exposed to sexually explicit material.”
While Hoffman’s recent statements seemed to suggest that pornographic filming in public schools was a pervasive problem, the bill is based on: What happened in Mojave County last year. The two teachers involved were a married couple who both worked in the Lake Havasu Unified School District.
“Certainly, it is misleading to call one particular incident a ‘pornography act,'” Tucson Democratic Senator Priya Sundareshan told the Arizona Mirror. “I hope the governor will veto it. This is by no means a widespread practice.”
Hoffman told a Senate government committee in February after a science teacher at Thunderbolt Middle School filmed explicit content for the OnlyFans channel, a subscriber-based service popular with adult content providers, outside of school hours. said he thought the bill was necessary.
The teacher resigned on Oct. 31 after students found her OnlyFans content online. Her husband was featured on her channel from time to time and worked at another school in the district, but she was fired a few days later.
“Surprisingly, there is no law against such conduct,” Hoffman said in a statement. “These are the places our children go to learn and should not be the places of the adult entertainment industry. ”
Hoffman did not respond to an interview request for this article.
Robert J. Campos, a former Maricopa County prosecutor for the sex crimes division and now a defense attorney for Phoenix, said there may not be a crime specifically illegal in Arizona for filming sexually explicit content on school grounds. I agree with Mr. Hoffman’s view that the
But in his eyes, the issue is better solved by employer policy than by criminal law.
“It seems like overkill to me,” Campos told The Mirror. “I think it sounds pretty daring to enact a law once it’s happened.”
He said that Arizona’s sex and minors laws generally don’t relate to sex with or involving children, or to exposing minors to sexually explicit material. but added that it was not relevant to filming content without children.
The rest of the bill, which concerns the exposure of minors to sexually explicit material, has raised concerns among some Democratic lawmakers.
According to Sundereshan, their most significant concern concerns the breadth of the bill, which essentially states that public libraries could use sexual content in classical literary works for minors. He said it could mean banning people from doing so.
Sundareshan, who has had two children in the past three years, said she borrowed a book detailing the process of pregnancy from her local library to understand how her body changed. rice field. And the book contained a description of the whole process of pregnancy, including how it begins. She fears that such informational books will no longer be available in public libraries if the law is passed.
“I have benefited from public libraries that provide scientifically accurate information,” she said.
SB1696 will apply to schools, but Congress has already passed the bill last yearwhen Republican Doug Ducey was in the governor’s office, banned schools from using sexually explicit content or introducing students to sexual content.
On March 15, Republican Rep. John Gillett (Kingman), a Republican congressman on the House Government Committee, said he thinks some sexually explicit books should be banned, suggesting a book for middle school students. The book contained pictures of sexual acts, but said he thought it was nothing of the kind. Suitable for showing to 6th graders. Gillette did not disclose the name of the book.
The bill was approved by the House of Representatives on May 15 and by the Senate on March 2, in line with party line. I sent Mr. Hobbes a decision to sign or veto on May 30.
This article was originally published arizona mirror, part of the States Newsroom network of news bureaus. As a 501c(3) public charity, it is supported by a coalition of grants and donors. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. If you have any questions, please contact Editor Jim Small. [email protected].Follow the Arizona Mirror Facebook and twitter.
