It took just one hour Tuesday afternoon for the Missouri Senate to convene and pass the third reading of SB 32, a sweeping anti-adult business bill that increases penalties for violations, limits hours of operation, prevents virtually all interactions between strippers and their audience, and creates new categories of "public nuisance" that can close businesses completely.
"I hope the passage of this bill on its third reading will be a wake-up call to the larger chain stores in Missouri and surrounding states," stated Marilyn Glessner, owner of Lilith's Lair, an independent adult boutique in Springfield, Mo., in a press release. "This bill will set adult clubs and stores in Missouri back to pre-WWII days."
The bill, which passed by a vote of 23-7, now goes to the Missouri House of Representatives for consideration – but with the bill having been approved by all of the relevant Senate committees and passed just two months after its introduction suggests that it may be on a "fast track" through the House and on the governor's desk for signature before the summer.
As noted AVN.com's previous coverage of this onerous legislation, the bill, which is virtually unchanged from the version detailed here, includes an expansive yet vague "definition" of a "sexually-oriented business," an over-inclusive definition of "sexually-oriented materials" and imposes clearly unconstitutional special tax burdens on adult businesses which are not required of other First-Amendment-protected speech providers.
Regarding adult cabarets, exotic dancers (or any other employees) who show so much as an "anal cleft" – i.e., the very top of the ass crack – are forbidden to have any direct contact with customers, and must remain on a stage two feet high and 10 feet away from the nearest customer, separated by a 2-foot high railing.
Adult businesses must be closed for 10 hours each day, and all day Sunday and on all official state or federal holidays, plus all employees must undergo extensive background checks (with no privacy guarantees regarding any personal information supplied to the state) and be specially licensed.
The Missouri Association of Club Executives has mounted an extensive lobbying campaign in an attempt to defeat the bill, and several independent store owners are targeting legislators as well.
