Hearings on adult business bill urged

The bill would ban customers from 'knowingly touching' strippers.
By MARC KOVAC
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- A former Cleveland-area stripper and club owner asked the speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives to allow adequate public comment on legislation to limit adult-oriented businesses.
Angelina Spencer, now a Florida resident who serves as executive director of the National Association of Club Executives, hand-delivered a letter to Speaker Jon Husted's office Monday urging legislative leadership to allow three committee hearings on Senate Bill 16, and not to send the bill straight to the floor for a vote.
"To deny the people of Ohio adequate time to testify in opposition to it would be an unprecedented attack on democracy itself," she wrote.
SB 16 would prohibit sexually oriented businesses without liquor permits from operating from midnight to 6 a.m., require nude or semi-nude employees to appear on stages at least 2 feet off the floor and at least 6 feet from customers, and ban such customers from "knowingly touching" strippers.
Businesses holding liquor licenses could remain open after hours but would be prohibited from offering sexually oriented entertainment during that time. Business affected would include adult bookstores, adult video stores, adult cabarets, adult motion picture theaters, sexual device shops or a sexual encounter center.
Approved by Senate
State senators approved the legislation last week by a vote of 24-8, with a mix of Democrats and Republicans in opposition.
The House must act on the bill in the next week because the legislation was introduced by initiative. Signatures were collected by supporters, namely the Citizens for Community Values, the main group that is pushing the issue.
If lawmakers do not act to the petitioners' liking by early next month, they can launch another signature-collection drive and have the legislation put before voters during the November general election.
Opponents are afraid the legislation will bypass the committee process and instead be subject to floor vote in coming days, which is why Spencer submitted her letter to House leadership.
Speaking with reporters after dropping a copy of the letter off at the House Clerk's Office in the Statehouse, Spencer said the legislation is being "railroaded" by lawmakers and prompted by what she called "political fear."
"If you vote without hearings on this statewide regulation, you are, in essence, voting against Ohio jobs, tax revenues, the idea that municipalities can govern themselves, and the democratic process," she said.