2005-2006 Bill 222: Unlawful to Use Profanity in a Public Forum, Disseminate to a Minor

1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 116th Session, 2005-2006 3 4 S. 222 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 General Bill 9 Sponsors: Senator Ford 10 Document Path: l:\council\bills\pt\2236sj05.doc 11 12 Introduced in the Senate on January 12, 2005 13 Currently residing in the Senate Committee on Judiciary 14 15 Summary: Unlawful to use profanity in a public forum, disseminate to a minor 16 17 18 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 19 20 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 21 1/12/2005 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-20 22 1/12/2005 Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary SJ-20 23 2/4/2005 Senate Referred to Subcommittee: Hawkins (ch), Cromer, Sheheen, Lourie 24 25 26 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 27 28 1/12/2005 29 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A BILL 10 11 TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 12 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 16-15-367 SO AS TO MAKE IT 13 UNLAWFUL TO COMMUNICATE PROFANITY IN A PUBLIC 14 FORUM OR PLACE OF PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION; BY 15 ADDING SECTION 16-15-427 SO AS TO DEFINE THE 16 FELONY OFFENSE OF DISSEMINATING PROFANITY TO A 17 MINOR AND PROVIDE A PENALTY; TO AMEND SECTION 18 16-15-305, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO DISSEMINATING 19 OBSCENITY, SO AS TO SPECIFY BOTH ORAL AND 20 WRITTEN PUBLICATION; AND TO AMEND SECTION 21 16-15-375, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO DEFINITIONS FOR 22 PURPOSES OF MORALITY AND DECENCY OFFENSES 23 AGAINST MINORS, SO AS TO INCLUDE A CROSS 24 REFERENCE TO SECTION 16-15-427 (DISSEMINATING 25 PROFANITY TO A MINOR). 26 27 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 28 Carolina: 29 30 SECTION 1. Chapter 15, Title 16 of the 1976 Code is amended 31 by adding: 32 33 “Section 16-15-367. It is unlawful for a person in a public 34 forum or place of public accommodation wilfully and knowingly 35 to publish orally or in writing, exhibit, or otherwise make available 36 material containing words, language, or actions of a profane, 37 vulgar, lewd, lascivious, or indecent nature.” 38 39 SECTION 2. Chapter 15, Title 16 of the 1976 Code is amended 40 by adding: 41

1 [222] 1 1 “Section 16-15-427. (A) An individual commits the offense of 2 disseminating profanity to a minor if he wilfully and knowingly 3 publishes orally or in writing, exhibits, or otherwise makes 4 available material containing words, language, or actions of 5 profane, vulgar, lewd, lascivious, or indecent nature. 6 (B) A person violating this section is guilty of a felony and, 7 upon conviction, must be imprisoned not more than five years or 8 fined not more than five thousand dollars, or both.” 9 10 SECTION 3. Section 16-15-305(A)(3) of the 1976 Code, as last 11 amended by Act 81 of 2001, is further amended to read: 12 13 “(3) publishes orally or in writing, exhibits, or otherwise makes 14 available anything obscene to any group or individual; or” 15 16 SECTION 4. The first undesignated paragraph of Section 17 16-15-375 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 421 of 1994, 18 is further amended to read: 19 20 “The following definitions apply to Section 16-15-385, 21 disseminating or exhibiting to minors harmful material or 22 performances; Section 16-15-387, employing a person under the 23 age of eighteen years to appear in a state of sexually explicit nudity 24 in a public place; Section 16-15-395, first degree sexual 25 exploitation of a minor; Section 16-15-405, second degree sexual 26 exploitation of a minor; Section 16-15-410, third degree sexual 27 exploitation of a minor; Section 16-15-415, promoting prostitution 28 of a minor; and Section 16-15-425, participating in prostitution of 29 a minor ; and Section 16 - 15 - 427, disseminating profanity to a 30 minor.” 31 32 SECTION 5. This act takes effect upon approval by the 33 Governor. 34 ----XX---- 35

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