OCR Text |
Show COMPLETE TEXT OF INITIATIVE A CABLE T.V. DECENCY ACT AN ACT RELATING TO THE CRIMINAL CODE; PROHIBITING THE DISTRIBUTION OF OBSCENE AND INDECENT MATERIAL (E) The provisions of subsection (A), (B), and (C) are not intended to interfere with or preempt the power of any political subdivision of this state over franchises or the authority of a local political subdivision to regulate obscenity or indecency in a manner which is not inconsistent with OVER CABLE TELEVISION; DEFINING INDECENT MATERIAL AND OTHER TERMS; AND PROVIDING PENALTIES. THIS aCT ENACTS SECTION UTAH CODEANNOTATED subsections (A), (B), and (C). 1953. (F) Nothing in this section shall apply to the distribution of material as defined in subsection (A), (B), or (C), if regulation of such material, insofar as decency content is concerned, is preempted by either valid federal laws or valid federal regulations. enacted by the Legislature of the State of Utah upon Initiative Petition Filed with the Lieutenant Governor Be it Whereas it is the right and duty of the citizens of the state of Utah to protect the moral standards of their communities, to enable the citizens of this state to be free from indecent and obscene material; and, Material means any visual display shown on a cable (G) or other television system, whether or not accompanied by sound, or any sound recording played on a cable or other television system. Whereas the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Federal Communications Commission versus Pacifica Found-atioheld that the transmission of indecent material must of necessity yield to a higher standard of accountability than is required of a publisher of matters which are printed; and, n (H) "Distribute means to send, transmit, retransmit, telecast, broadcast, or cable cast by any means, including by wire or satellite, or to produce or provide material to send, transmit, retransmit, telecast, broadcast, or cable cast. Wiiereas in the state of Utah cable franchisees have transmitted matter of an indecent, obscene, and highly offensive nature, and which if allowed to continue would result in very harmful exposure of our citizens and of our youth to indecent and morally destructive materials; Now, therefore, be it enacted by the legislature of the Utah, at its general session for 1983, as follows: SECTION 1. Section 230, Utah Code Annotated State (I) Knowingly" means having general knowledge or reason to know, or a belief or ground for belief which warrants further inspection or inquiry of the nature and character of the material involved. A person has such knowledge when he or she knows or is aware of the nature and character of the material, whether or not such person has precise knowledge of the specific contents thereof. Such knowledge may be proven by direct or circumstantial evidence, or both. of 1953, is enacted to read: (J) As used in this section indecent material" means a depiction, representation, or verbal description of: (A) It is unlawful for any person to knowingly distribute within this state any obscene or indecent material by means of cable television. (1) A human sexual or excretory organ or function; or state of undress so as to expose the human male or (2) female genitals, pubic area, or buttocks with less than a fully opaque covering, or the showing the prurient appeal purposes of the fern ale breast with less than a fully opaque covering of any portion thereof below the top of the nipple; or A It is unlawful for any person to knowingly distribute (B) within this state any obscene or indecent material by means of cable television or enhanced cable television services. (3) An ultimate sexual act, normal or perverted, actual or simulated; or (C) It is unlawful for any person to knowingly distribute or broadcast within this state any obscene or indecent material by means of cable television or enhanced cable television services or any other broadcast or transmitting capacity which is not subject to regulation by the Federal Communications Commission insofar as the decency content of the broadcast material is concerned. (4) Masturbation; and (5) Flagellation, torture, or other violence indicating a sadomasochistic sexual relationship; which the average person applying contemporary community standards for the television medium would find is presented in a patently offensive way. It is the intent of this statute to regulate the decency content of material broadcast andor transmitted for reception in the state of Utah where there is no valid federal statute or regulation governing the decency content of such material or where the Federal Communications Commission has specifically declined to exercise jurisdiction over the same (D) (K) Community shall mean the geographic area within the state of Utah which received the distribution, and in the case of a cable or enhanced cable services television distribution, the area served by the cable franchise. Enhanced cable television services means television (L) services which do not originate with broadcast sources which 36- |