Committee advances bill to expand indecent exposure language; witnesses sharply divided

The House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee voted to send House Bill 270 to the House floor with a due-pass recommendation after an hour-plus of public testimony and questioning that highlighted sharply divided views on the bill’s language, constitutionality, enforceability and potential effect on transgender people and others.

Representative Jeff Cornelius, R-District 12, sponsored HB 270 and told the committee the bill "clarifies the definitions of willful and indecent exposure" in Idaho Code Title 18, section 4116. Cornelius said the bill targets "a few bad actors" and is intended to require that "men and women need to have private parts covered while they're in public." He said the measure was prompted by incidents at public events in Nampa and elsewhere where, he said, people exposed breasts in ways local police said current law did not clearly prohibit. "Local police has stated, this addition to the current law would assist us," Cornelius said.

Nampa City Councilman Sebastian Griffin testified in support, recounting an event he attended at Lakeview Park in which he said "a woman who was exposing herself to a group of individuals, some of…