House Bill Puts Reins On Obscene Materials

Anti-pornography legislation aimed at shielding minors from obscene materials cleared the House on Friday.

SB5466, the so-called “Harmful to Minors” legislation, passed on a bipartisan 75-14 vote, meaning the lawmakers could easily override a veto by Gov. Mike Lowry. The governor vetoed a similar measure last year, calling it overly broad and potentially leading to censorship.

The House plan exempts libraries and museums, but includes sound recordings, something not in the Senate version.

Rep. Lois McMahan, R-Gig Harbor, said sexual predators use pornography as a tool to prey upon children.

“We should not give anyone the license to prey upon children,” McMahan said.

The bill would deem materials “harmful to minors” if:

The average adult, applying contemporary community standards, would find it appeals to the prurient interest of minors.

It depicted conduct that under adult community standards would be seen as patently offensive to minors.

And it lacked socially redeeming literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors.

Minority Leader Brian Ebersole, D-Tacoma, called on House members to take a stand against pornography by voting for the bill.

“There should be some reasonable boundaries to protect the youth of this state from pornography,” Ebersole said.

An amendment by Rep. Renee Radcliffe, R-Mukilteo, was defeated. It would have scrapped the bill and created a task force to study the availability of obscene material to children and report to the 1996 Legislature.

Last year, the state Supreme Court threw out a law banning the sale of erotic recordings to minors.

The House version of the bill now goes back to the Senate for concurrence.