SUMMARY--Prohibits certain advertising by certain sexually related businesses and makes changes regarding certain acts relating to prostitution. (BDR 15-312)
FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: Yes.
Effect on the State or on Industrial Insurance: No.
EXPLANATION - Matter in italics is new; matter in brackets [ ] is material to be omitted.
AN ACT relating to sexual activity; prohibiting certain advertising in certain locations by certain sexually related businesses; prohibiting certain acts relating to prostitution; providing that certain places in which certain acts relating to prostitution are conducted constitute nuisances; providing penalties; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1 Chapter 201 of NRS is hereby amended by adding thereto a new section to read as follows:
1. A person who engages in conduct that constitutes a referral service for prostitution is guilty of a gross misdemeanor, unless a more severe penalty is prescribed by law for the conduct that constitutes a violation of this section.
2. As used in this section:
(a) "Refer" and "referring" include, but are not limited to:
(1) Providing an address, directions or a location.
(2) Providing a telephone number or any other information that facilitates contact by a method of telecommunication.
(b) "Referral service for prostitution" means a person who:
(1) Knowingly and for a fee refers another person to or aids in referring another person to an unlicensed house of prostitution or a prostitute who engages in prostitution in a place other than a licensed house of prostitution;
(2) Knowingly and for a fee refers another person to or aids in referring another person to a third person who engages in conduct that violates the provisions of subparagraph 1;
(3) Operates or aids in the operation of a licensed or an unlicensed entertainment by referral service, as defined in NRS 244.345, and who knows or reasonably should know that one or more of the entertainers for the entertainment by referral service engages in prostitution with customers of the entertainment by referral service;
(4) Operates or aids in the operation of a licensed or an unlicensed escort service and who knows or reasonably should know that one or more of the escorts for the escort service engages in prostitution with customers of the escort service;
(5) Operates or aids in the operation of a place, other than a licensed house of prostitution, that is used primarily for prostitution and who knows or reasonably should know that the place is used primarily for prostitution; or
(6) Solicits for himself or another person and who knows or reasonably should know that the solicitation is designed or intended to promote or facilitate conduct that violates the provisions of this section.
Sec. 2 NRS 201.295 is hereby amended to read as follows:
201.295 As used in NRS 201.295 to 201.440, inclusive, and section 1 of this act, unless the context otherwise requires:
1. "Prostitute" means a male or female person who for a fee engages in sexual intercourse, oral-genital contact or any touching of the sexual organs or other intimate parts of a person for the purpose of arousing or gratifying the sexual desire of either person.
2. "Prostitution" means engaging in sexual conduct for a fee.
3. "Sexual conduct" means any of the acts enumerated in subsection 1.
Sec. 3 NRS 202.450 is hereby amended to read as follows:
202.450 1. A public nuisance is a crime against the order and economy of the state.
2. Every place:
(a) Wherein any gambling, bookmaking or pool selling is conducted without a license as provided by law, or wherein any swindling game or device, or bucket shop, or any agency therefor is conducted, or any article, apparatus or device useful therefor is kept;
(b) Wherein any fighting between animals or birds is conducted;
(c) Wherein any dog races are conducted without a license as provided by law;
(d) Wherein any intoxicating liquors are kept for unlawful use, sale or distribution; [or]
(e) Wherein a person engages in conduct that constitutes a referral service for prostitution, as defined in section 1 of this act; or
(f) Where vagrants resort,
is a public nuisance.
3. Every act unlawfully done and every omission to perform a duty, which act or omission:
(a) Annoys, injures or endangers the safety, health, comfort or repose of any considerable number of persons;
(b) Offends public decency;
(c) Unlawfully interferes with, befouls, obstructs or tends to obstruct, or renders dangerous for passage, a lake, navigable river, bay, stream, canal, ditch, millrace or basin, or a public park, square, street, alley, bridge, causeway or highway; or
(d) In any way renders a considerable number of persons insecure in life or the use of property,
is a public nuisance.
4. Agricultural activity conducted on farmland consistent with good agricultural practice and established before surrounding nonagricultural activities is not a public nuisance unless it has a substantial adverse effect on the public health or safety. It is presumed that an agricultural activity which does not violate a federal, state or local law, ordinance or regulation constitutes good agricultural practice.
Sec. 4 Chapter 207 of NRS is hereby amended by adding thereto the provisions set forth as sections 5 to 17, inclusive, of this act.
Sec. 5 The legislature hereby finds and declares that:
1. Outdoor advertising signs constitute a prominent and unique form of advertising. Because certain outdoor advertising signs are located near schools, places of religious worship and residential neighborhoods, children are unavoidably exposed to such signs, often without parental or adult supervision, simply by walking to school or playing in their own neighborhoods. Children, therefore, are a captive audience to outdoor advertising signs located near schools, places of religious worship and residential neighborhoods, and children are repeatedly subjected to the unavoidable messages displayed on such signs, usually without the benefit of a parent or adult to help them assess the nature and the value of the messages.
2. Sexually related businesses are harmful to the morals and the general welfare of children because such businesses sell, show or display sexually related items or sexually related forms of entertainment which are patently offensive to the prevailing standards in the adult community with respect to what is suitable for children and which appeal primarily to the prurient interest of children without offering any serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value. Advertisements for sexually related businesses and sexually related forms of entertainment create an aura of mystery and enticement for children and stimulate their desires to obtain sexually related items illicitly and to engage in sexual conduct before their minds and bodies have sufficiently matured.
3. This state has a compelling interest to protect the physical and psychological welfare of children and to shield their developing minds and bodies from the harmful influence of advertisements for sexually related businesses and sexually related forms of entertainment. The children of this state are most vulnerable to the harmful influence of such advertisements when they are a captive audience to such advertisements in those areas of the community where they are most likely to gather, play, walk to school and worship. To protect the children of this state in those areas of the community where they are most likely to be a captive audience, it is necessary to prohibit advertisements for sexually related businesses and sexually related forms of entertainment from being placed on outdoor advertising signs located near schools, places of religious worship and residential neighborhoods.
Sec. 6 As used in sections 5 to 17, inclusive, of this act, unless the context otherwise requires, the words and terms defined in sections 7 to 15, inclusive, of this act have the meanings ascribed to them in those sections.
Sec. 7 "Advertisement" includes, but is not limited to, a message or image that shows, displays or conveys the name, address or location of a sexually related business.
Sec. 8 "Outdoor advertising sign" means a sign, billboard, display, device, light, figure, painting, drawing, message, plaque, poster or any other object that is:
1. Placed outdoors or is placed indoors as part of a window display that is directly visible from outdoors;
2. Affixed, temporarily or permanently, to the ground, a building, a structure or a freestanding support; and
3. Designed or intended to direct attention to a business, commodity, service or form of entertainment or attraction that is sold, shown, displayed or exists at a place other than the premises on which the outdoor advertising sign is located.
Sec. 9 "Private school" has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 394.103.
Sec. 10 "Public school" has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 385.007.
Sec. 11 "Sexual conduct" means:
1. Ordinary sexual intercourse;
2. Anal intercourse;
3. Fellatio, cunnilingus or other oral-genital contact;
4. Physical contact by a person with a sexually related anatomical area of another person for the purpose of arousing or gratifying the sexual desire of a person;
5. Penetration, however slight, by a person of an object into the genital or anal opening of the body of another person for the purpose of arousing or gratifying the sexual desire of a person;
6. Masturbation or the exhibition of a sexually related anatomical area for the purpose of arousing or gratifying the sexual desire of a person; or
7. Sado-masochistic abuse.
Sec. 12 "Sexually related anatomical area" means:
1. The genitals, pubic region or buttocks of a male or female if it is not completely covered by an opaque covering.
2. The breast of a female if it is not completely covered below a point immediately above the top of the areola by an opaque covering.
3. The genitals of a male in a discernibly turgid state, whether or not covered.
Sec. 13 1. "Sexually related business" means a business that:
(a) Primarily sells, shows or displays sexually related items;
(b) Offers, shows or displays a sexually related form of entertainment as its primary form of entertainment or attraction; or
(c) Knows or reasonably should know that sexual conduct is engaged in on its premises in exchange for a fee or a cover charge.
2. The term includes, but is not limited to:
(a) A bookstore, theater, arcade or other similar business that primarily sells, shows or displays sexually related items.
(b) A novelty store or other similar business that primarily sells, shows or displays sexually related items.
(c) A nude show, strip club, topless bar or other similar business.
Sec. 14 "Sexually related form of entertainment" means a form of entertainment or attraction that:
1. Involves an employee or independent contractor who:
(a) Is paid or permitted to expose; or
(b) Receives compensation or gratuities as a result of exposing,
a sexually related anatomical area to the view of customers of a business, whether or not the employee or independent contractor is engaged in providing other services at the time of the exposure; and
2. Would be harmful to minors as defined in NRS 201.257.
Sec. 15 "Sexually related item" means:
1. A dildo, vibrator, artificial or simulated vagina or any other similar item that is primarily designed or intended to sexually stimulate the genitals of a male or female or to assist in arousing or gratifying the sexual desire of a person; or
2. Any of the following items, if the item would be harmful to minors as defined in NRS 201.257:
(a) A book, magazine, newsletter, bulletin, pamphlet or other similar item.
(b) A drawing, sketch, painting, sculpture or other similar item.
(c) A photograph, film, motion picture, videotape, videodisc or other similar item.
(d) A sound recording, audiotape, compact disc or other similar item.
(e) A computer program, device for the storage or transmission of computer data, video game or other similar item.
Sec. 16 1. A person shall not place an advertisement for a sexually related business or a sexually related form of entertainment on an outdoor advertising sign or pay to have an advertisement for a sexually related business or a sexually related form of entertainment placed on the outdoor advertising sign if the outdoor advertising sign is located less than 1,500 feet from:
(a) The property line of a public school or private school;
(b) The property line of a church or other structure that is primarily used for religious services or worship; or
(c) The boundary line of a zoning district in which single-family or multifamily dwellings are one of the permitted uses.
2. A person who violates the provisions of subsection 1:
(a) For the first offense, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
(b) For a second or any subsequent offense, is guilty of a gross misdemeanor.
3. In addition to any other penalty, the court shall impose a fine of:
(a) If the offense is a misdemeanor, at least $50 for each day during which the advertisement for the sexually related business or the sexually related form of entertainment was visible for any portion of the day; or
(b) If the offense is a gross misdemeanor, at least $100 for each day during which the advertisement for the sexually related business or the sexually related form of entertainment was visible for any portion of the day.
Sec. 17 1. The attorney general or a district attorney may bring an action in the name of the State of Nevada to enjoin a violation of any provision of sections 5 to 17, inclusive, of this act.
2. If the court finds that a violation of any provision of sections 5 to 17, inclusive, has been committed, in addition to issuing an injunction and any other appropriate remedy, the court shall impose upon the person who committed the violation a civil penalty of at least $100 for each day during which the advertisement for the sexually related business or the sexually related form of entertainment was visible for any portion of the day.
3. A person who violates an order or injunction issued pursuant to this section is guilty of a gross misdemeanor. In addition to any other penalty, the court shall impose a fine of at least $200 for each day during which the advertisement for the sexually related business or the sexually related form of entertainment was visible for any portion of the day.
Sec. 18 NRS 40.140 is hereby amended to read as follows:
40.140 1. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 2, anything which is injurious to health, or indecent and offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property, is a nuisance, and the subject of an action. The action may be brought by any person whose property is injuriously affected, or whose personal enjoyment is lessened by the nuisance, and by the judgment the nuisance may be enjoined or abated, as well as damages recovered.
2. It is presumed:
(a) That an agricultural activity conducted on farmland, consistent with good agricultural practice and established before surrounding nonagricultural activities is reasonable. Such activity does not constitute a nuisance unless the activity has a substantial adverse effect on the public health or safety.
(b) That an agricultural activity which does not violate a federal, state or local law, ordinance or regulation constitutes good agricultural practice.
3. A building or place used by a person for engaging in conduct that constitutes a referral service for prostitution, as defined in section 1 of this act, is a nuisance.
Sec. 19 The provisions of subsection 1 of NRS 354.599 do not apply to any additional expenses of a local government that are related to the provisions of this act.
Sec. 20 The amendatory provisions of this act do not apply to offenses that are committed before October 1, 1997.