The Colorado House sent to the Senate January 27 a bill that makes it a misdemeanor to allow an individual younger than 18 “to review or peruse any material that is harmful to minors” without the parents’ express permission. HB 1078 specifies that businesses must “take commercially feasible measures to prevent the display of [harmful] materials to minors,” exempting teachers (but not librarians) in the context of their jobs, as well as parents and guardians, from verifying an individual’s age before disseminating, “with or without financial or other consideration,” explicit material in the form of a “picture, drawing, video recording, film, book, magazine, or other written or electronic depiction, description, or representation.” If signed into law, the bill would go into effect July 1.
Three days earlier, an amendment to the bill passed 33–32 that removed criminal penalties for displaying materials defined as harmful to minors in such public venues as book shelves, window displays, and elsewhere. “Do I believe in protecting children? Damn right. But do I also believe in following the Constitution? That is what I’ve sworn to uphold,” Rep. Mark Larson (R-Cortez), who wrote the amendment, remarked in the January 24 Durango Herald. “This means that any business in the state of Colorado can display pornography in any way they want with total disregard for its effect on minors,” Rep. Ted Harvey (R-Highlands Ranch), the bill’s original author, protested in the January 24 Denver Post.
The House is now considering a bill that would require public libraries to install “a technology protection measure for each computer” that blocks material considered harmful to minors, but that can be readily disabled for patrons conducting “bona fide” research. Youngsters would be allowed unfettered access only outside the children’s area and under adult supervision. The bill exempts libraries for whom “no moneys exist” to buy a filter and which “after a good faith effort” cannot secure free blocking software that works as the bill specifies.
Posted January 30, 2004.