Assigned to COM & JUD FOR COMMITTEE

ARIZONA STATE SENATE

Phoenix, Arizona

FACT SHEET FOR S.B. 1526

sexually oriented businesses

Purpose

Prohibits persons from appearing nude or depicting specific sexual activity in a sexually oriented business (SOB) and prohibits any exchange or acceptance of pay or gratuities between patrons and employees of the business.

Background

Legislation was enacted in 1998 that strengthened and clarified counties’ powers to enact and enforce ordinances and regulate and use business licenses with regard to SOBs. It also included time restrictions that limited SOBs hours of operation to between 8 a.m. and 1 a.m. Monday through Saturday and between 12 p.m. and 1 a.m. on Sunday.

S.B. 1526 restricts employees of SOBs from appearing nude or depicting specific sexual activities. It also prevents these employees from soliciting or accepting pay or gratuity from customers, and prohibits customers from offering pay or gratuity. S.B. 1526 also prevents persons under 18 years of age from entering onto SOBs’ premises and from being employed at such businesses.

The fiscal impact of S.B. 1526 is unknown.

Provisions

1. Prohibits persons from appearing in a state of nudity or from depicting specific sexual activities in a SOB.

2. Specifies that a person may not appear seminude in a SOB, unless the person is an employee of the business, and that the employee appearing seminude must be at least ten feet from any patron or customer and on a stage at least two feet from the floor.

3. Prohibits seminude employees from soliciting or accepting any pay or gratuity from patrons or customers, or from knowingly touching a patron or customer or the clothing of a patron or customer.

4. Prohibits customers of SOBs from offering pay or gratuity to any seminude employee of a SOB.

5. Prohibits SOB managers from allowing a person under 18 years of age on the premises of the business and from employing any person under 18 years of age.

6. Establishes a yet-to-be-determined penalty for violating the SOB provisions.

7. Refers to definitions of nude, seminude and other terms already provided for in statute.

8. Provides a general effective date.

Prepared by Senate Staff

February 8, 2001