Utah State Senate cans violent videogames bill
After sailing through the House of Representatives last week, Utah Representative David L. Hogue's controversial videogames legislation is dead in the water, the State Senate having failed to vote on the bill.
After sailing through the House of Representatives last week, Utah Representative David L. Hogue's controversial videogames legislation is dead in the water after the State Senate failed to vote on the bill.
Had it passed through the Senate, Hogue's bill would equate videogames to pornography by amending existing obscenity laws in the state of Utah, imposing hefty fines on retailers found to be selling or promoting "inappropriately violent" videogames to minors.
In spite of a few initial stumbles, and a strong statement of objection on the grounds of constitutionality after the bill was scrutinised by First Amendment legal experts, the 'games as porn' bill sailed straight through House of Representatives by a vote of 56-8.
According to website GamePolitics, the State Senate failed to vote on the bill by the midnight deadline - effectively tossing it from the current session. Though it is possible that the bill may resurface for the next session, observers suggest that this is extremely unlikely given its failure at this juncture.
The failure of this latest bill marks another in a long line of proposed legislative changes that have been dismissed, largely on the grounds of being unconstitutional.
The Entertainment Software Association, along with various associated trade bodies, continues to support and protect the interactive entertainment industry, successfully halting the implementation of a number of similar proposals in various US states.