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from www.theadvocate.com - A state Senate committee struggled Monday with the definition of pornography while debating legislation to restrict the use of state tax credits for certain productions.
“You’ll know it when you see it,” state Sen. A.G. Crowe said of what he is targeting in his legislation.
The committee eventually voted without objection to advance the proposal.
Crowe’s Senate Bill 513 would prohibit the state Department of Economic Development and the Office of Entertainment Industry Development from approving tax credits for film projects that must file documentation with the federal government because they involve “sexually explicit conduct.”
The federal record keeping is designed to ensure that children are not participating in pornographic productions.
Among other things, production companies have to collect performers’ dates of birth and correct names.
SB513 simply characterizes the targeted productions as pornographic. Language also referring to the productions as obscene was removed.
State Sen. Ed Murray, D-New Orleans, asked Crowe if his legislation defines pornographic.
Crowe, R-Slidell, said it does not. “Pornographic is a floating target in terms of determination,” Crowe said.
Murray said he did not see how the state could police something that is not defined.
The motion picture tax incentives are making Louisiana a popular place to shoot films.
Chris Stelly, executive director of the Louisiana Office of Entertainment Industry Development, said his office would require productions to declare whether they had to file paperwork stemming from the federal Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act when applying for tax credits.
He said the legislation would not have applied to any of the movies shot in Louisiana last year.
Murray asked Crowe why the legislation is necessary.
Crowe said he wants to make sure the productions do not occur in Louisiana because of the state’s conservative nature.
“Now you’re speaking on behalf of everyone in the state,” Murray said.
State Sen. Norby Chabert, R-Houma, suggested defining pornographic by using the motion picture industry’s rating system, which includes NC-17 for productions considered “patently too adult” for children.
Stelly said coupling the ratings with the tax credit applications would lead to timing problems.
He said most productions are not rated until long after they are shot. He said credits are requested when shooting is concluded, not when the movie is rated for release to the public.
State Sen. Dan Claitor, R-Baton Rouge, said he did not want the state to end up in court litigating what is pornographic and what is not.
In the end, the committee agreed to tighten the bill’s language to make it clear that pornographic is linked to federal regulations stemming from the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act.
The bill now advances to the full Senate.
