Pennsylvania- Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, [pictured] is proposing a study on levying a tax on pornography and adult entertainment.

Orie said last Friday that she will ask the Senate to approve a resolution authorizing the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to study whether a 10 percent excise tax — similar to Utah’s — is feasible in Pennsylvania.

She said the study would focus on taxing pornography distributors, publishers, adult book stores, escort services and strip clubs.

The tax would help “remediate the harm they are doing in communities,” the senator said.

Constitutional challenges to Utah’s law and another in Texas must be watched closely, Orie said.

Orie, an attorney, said she believes it will be possible to levy the tax if it the revenue is limited to “secondary effects” of the porn business. The money would go for mental health, child advocacy, domestic violence and other services that would deal with problems arising from the use of pornography, she said.