SENATE BILL No. 608

 

 

October 4, 2017, Introduced by Senator JONES and referred to the Committee on Regulatory

Reform.

 

 

 

     A bill to amend 1998 PA 58, entitled

 

"Michigan liquor control code of 1998,"

 

(MCL 436.1101 to 436.2303) by adding section 916a.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 916a. (1) The purpose of this section is to regulate

 

alcoholic beverage traffic within adult-oriented businesses that

 

are licensed to sell alcoholic liquor for consumption on the

 

premises to promote the health, safety, and general welfare of the

 

citizens of this state and to establish reasonable and uniform

 

regulations to prevent the deleterious secondary effects of adult-

 

oriented businesses within this state. This section is not intended

 

to, nor shall it be interpreted to, impose a limitation or

 

restriction on the content of, or reasonable access to, any

 

communicative materials including adult-oriented materials, to

 

restrict or deny access by adults to adult-oriented materials


protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United

 

States, to deny access by the distributors and exhibitors of adult-

 

oriented entertainment to their intended market, or to condone or

 

legitimize the distribution of obscene material.

 

     (2) The legislature finds all of the following:

 

     (a) Adult-oriented businesses, as a category of commercial

 

enterprises, are associated with a wide variety of adverse

 

secondary effects, including, but not limited to, personal and

 

property crimes, prostitution, potential spread of disease,

 

lewdness, public indecency, obscenity, illicit drug use and drug

 

trafficking, negative impacts on surrounding properties, urban

 

blight, litter, and sexual assault and exploitation.

 

     (b) Each of the negative secondary effects described in

 

subdivision (a) constitutes a harm that this state has a

 

substantial interest in preventing, abating, or both. The

 

substantial government interest in preventing adverse secondary

 

effects, which is this state's rationale for this section, exists

 

independently of any comparative analysis between adult-oriented

 

and non-adult-oriented businesses. Additionally, this state's

 

interest in regulating adult-oriented businesses extends to

 

preventing future secondary effects of current or future adult-

 

oriented businesses that may locate in this state. The United

 

States Supreme Court has recognized that precluding nudity in

 

certain establishments that serve alcoholic beverages can reduce

 

adverse secondary effects, see New York State Liquor Authority v

 

Bellanca, 452 US 714 (1981), California v LaRue, 409 US 109 (1972),

 

and 44 Liquormart v Rhode Island, 517 US 484 (1996), and the


legislature adopts such findings.

 

     (3) An on-premises licensee shall not allow in or on the

 

licensed premises an individual who exposes to public view the

 

pubic region, anus, or genitals or who displays other types of

 

nudity prohibited by law or local ordinance. An on-premises

 

licensee shall not allow in or on the licensed premises the showing

 

of films, television, slides, or other electronic reproductions

 

that depict scenes wherein any individual exposes to public view

 

the pubic region, anus, or genitals or displays other types of

 

nudity prohibited by law or local ordinance. This prohibition does

 

not apply to a publicly broadcast television transmission from a

 

federally licensed station.

 

     (4) This section does not apply to an exhibition or

 

performance in a theater, concert hall, art center, museum, or

 

similar establishment that is primarily devoted to the arts or

 

theatrical performances.

 

     Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days

 

after the date it is enacted into law.