REPORT TITLE:
Pornography; On-Line Access


DESCRIPTION:
Amends the promoting pornography for minors exemption for public
library staff by narrowing the exemption to persons acting within
the scope of their employment.  (SD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        2465
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO PORNOGRAPHY.


BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the Hawaii penal code
 
 2 currently prohibits the act of promoting pornography for minors
 
 3 under section 712-1215, Hawaii Revised Statutes, but makes an
 
 4 exemption for public library staff.
 
 5      The legislature finds, however, that there is no sound
 
 6 public policy justification for allowing library personnel to
 
 7 engage in that criminal offense.  The other exemptions to that
 
 8 offense apply to parents, guardians, or siblings of a minor, or
 
 9 to people acting in loco parentis to the minor, which the public
 
10 libraries have made clear is not applicable to them.
 
11      The legislature further finds that there is no valid concern
 
12 over prosecution over such material as may be found in such
 
13 periodicals as National Geographic magazine, which may contain
 
14 nude photographs, because section 712-1210(7)(a)(ii), Hawaii
 
15 Revised Statutes, requires material classified as "pornographic
 
16 for minors" to lack "serious literary, artistic, political, or
 
17 scientific value" when taken as a whole.
 
18      Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to amend the
 
19 promoting pornography for minors exemption for public library
 
20 staff to limit the exemption to those acting within the scope of
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 their employment in order to assure compliance with the Hawaii
 
 2 State Public Library System's policies and guidelines prohibiting
 
 3 the promotion of pornography for minors.
 
 4      SECTION 2.  Section 712-1215, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 5 amended by amending subsection (2) to read as follows:
 
 6      "(2)  Subsection (1) does not apply to a parent, guardian,
 
 7 or other person in loco parentis to the minor[,] or to a sibling
 
 8 of the minor, or to a person who commits any act specified
 
 9 therein in the person's capacity and within the scope of the
 
10 person's employment as a member of the staff of any public
 
11 library."
 
12      SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
13 New statutory material is underscored.
 
14      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.