2015.9: Texas HB101 and Arizona HB2515

 Posted on January 06, 2015 in Uncategorized

IS UNLAWFUL TO INTENTIONALLY DISCLOSE, DISPLAY, DISTRIBUTE, PUBLISH, ADVERTISE OR OFFER A PHOTOGRAPH, VIDEOTAPE, FILM OR DIGITAL RECORDING OF ANOTHER PERSON IN A STATE OF NUDITY OR ENGAGED IN SPECIFIC SEXUAL ACTIVITIES IF THE PERSON KNOWS OR SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT THE DEPICTED PERSON HAS NOT CONSENTED TO THE DISCLOSURE

Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 13-142 (effective 2014).

(b) A person commits an offense if the person:(1) intentionally displays, distributes, publishes, advertises, offers, or otherwise discloses visual material depicting another person engaged in sexual conduct; and(2) knows or should have known that the depicted person has not consented to the disclosure.

Texas HB101.

Almost the same thing, right? There is a distinction: while the Arizona statute criminalizes the publication of an image of another person "in a state of nudity," the Texas statute requires "sexual conduct," which includes "lewd exhibition of the genitals, the anus, or any portion of the female breast below the top of the areola." But lewdness is in the eye of the beholder, and does not differentiate the statutes in a constitutionally significant way.

The Arizona statute is the subject of an ACLU lawsuit, ((If the ACLU bothers to oppose it it must be really bad.)) Here's the complaint the ACLU filed. With the agreement of the Arizona Attorney General, the U.S. District Judge in that case blocked enforcement of the law. That doesn't bode well for House Bill 101.