The Republican majority on the Ohio House Judiciary Committee narrowly approved legislation on Tuesday that would ban physical contact between strippers and patrons inside the state's strip clubs, according to a recent report. The new bill would also prohibit nude or semi-nude performing between midnight and 6 a.m. and require that all clubs without liquor licenses close at midnight.
The legislation goes to the House floor today.
According to a recent report in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, club patrons found in violation of the no-touching rule could be charged with a first or fourth-degree misdemeanor, depending on the "intimacy" of the touch.
Strip club owners have vehemently argued that the regulations are aimed at harming a $250 million-a-year industry in Ohio that provides thousands of jobs.
The ultra-conservative Citizens for Community Values (CCV) — angry that the legislature removed time and place restrictions from House Bill 23, another anti-adult measure, before it passed the bill last year — began a petition drive calling for the legislature to adopt stricter regulations on Ohio strip clubs. The amended bill was a watered-down version of regulations sought by the group.
"If it becomes law, it will have a significant impact on the crime that takes place inside these establishments," CCV Vice President David Miller told the Plain Dealer.
House Republicans also added a provision to the bill that would cover the legal costs of any lawsuits filed against townships that use the same type of legislation, in an attempt to protect townships that pass stricter strip club regulations.
Gov. Ted Strickland had not yet reviewed the compromise bill and would evaluate its constitutionality if its passes the legislature, spokesman Keith Dailey told the Cincinnati Post.
