A roundup of legislative and Capitol news items of interest for Tuesday:
SEXTING: A Senate panel moved legislation Tuesday that would give prosecutors the authority to charge individuals between the ages of 14 through 18 with a simple misdemeanor for disseminating to another person images a minor engaged in a sex act or in a state of full or partial nudity.
Currently, it is a serious misdemeanor to knowingly disseminate obscene material to a minor and such a conviction requires the guilty to register as a sex offender. The bill, Senate Study Bill 3189, which passed out of committee on a unanimous vote, does not include that requirement.
“I want to be clear that sexting is not legal,” said Senate Judiciary Chairman Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, “but we don’t want people necessarily ending up on the sex offender registry for life for something that is not as serious or between consenting people.” .Source..
