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Louisiana – from www.theadvertiser.com – Playboy, Club Jenna, Vavoom and other Pay-Per-View, adult-entertainment channels are at the center of a debate in the Legislature about if government entities should be able to buy and sell sexually explicit material.
State Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin, sponsored House Bill 142 to prohibit public officials and local and state government offices from purchasing pornography with public money or selling it, and Lafayette officials would like to be exempt from those requirements.
The bill would prevent LUS Fiber from offering customers the pornographic channels, which LUS’ private industry competitors, like Cox, offer, causing Lafayette officials to seek exemption from the bill’s jurisdiction in order to avoid being at a competitive disadvantage.
State Sen. Mike Michot, R-Lafayette, attached to the bill an amendment, which does not mention the parish but instead states that the bill “shall not apply to a local governing authority that provides covered services pursuant to the Local Government Fair Competition Act,” which is a state law.
Michot said he attached that amendment to the bill at the request of LUS Fiber officials.
“The bill was not clear on how it might impact the services provided by a community-owned multichannel video distributor, such as LUS Fiber,” Lafayette Utilities System Director Terry Huval said in an email. “One of the foundations of The Local Government Fair Competition Act allows a local government which provides services covered under that act to be able to offer the same type services as offered by private providers.”
Huval said the amendment would allow LUS Fiber to continue offering the same services it does now, including at least seven adult-entertainment channels.
Huval said he was not aware of the bill and its possible ramifications until The Daily Advertiser questioned him about the bill Friday.
“If the state wants to pass something like this, it ought to apply to everybody who provides these services, and if it does, we’re fine with it,” Huval said Friday.