SENATE BACKS BILL THAT BANS PORN SALES TO KIDS

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Feb 23, 2008 | by ED SEALOVER

DENVER - Colorado is one of only seven states without laws specifically prohibiting the sale of pornographic material to minors.

A bill that received initial approval Friday from the Senate would remove it from that list, though some officials doubt SB125 will ban anything that is not outlawed already.

Colorado prohibits the promotion of obscenity to minors, a ban that includes a provision against selling obscene magazines or videos to kids.

The sponsor, Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, explained that current law prevents selling obscene material to anyone but doesn't define obscenity. That, he said, makes it legal to sell pornography to anyone, adults or children.

Harvey's bill describes what is obscene and harmful to children, listing in often graphic detail the acts, body parts and social taboos that can't be pictured in material sold or distributed to kids. Violations would be punishable by as much as three months in jail.

Assistant Senate Majority Leader Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, tried to remove most of the bill's provisions during floor debate Friday and replace them with a clause that would make it a felony for adults to use pornographic material to entice a child into a sexual act. In 90 percent of child molestations in the state, victims are "groomed" by being shown pornographic material beforehand, Shaffer said.

But Sen. Mike Kopp, R-Littleton, responded with a procedural move that added Shaffer's felony charge to the bill while preserving the rest of its provisions. The measure then passed 31-3.

"We can go out of this body proud of the fact that we stood up for the family and we stood up for kids," said Harvey, a candidate for the open 6th Congressional District seat.

The measure heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee, which must debate it because the creation of a new felony crime requires that money be put aside for increasing bed space in jails.

CONTACT THE WRITER: (303) 837-0613 or ed.sealover@gazette.com.