House State Affairs committee sends bill restricting minors’ access to “indecent exhibitions” to the floor after hours of testimony

The Idaho House State Affairs Committee on Feb. 17 voted to send House Bill 230, which would create civil liability for organizers, hosts and performers of so-called "indecent exhibitions" accessible to minors, to the full House with a due-pass recommendation after extended sponsor remarks and nearly an hour of public testimony.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Ted Hill, R-Eagle and Emmett, told the committee H.B. 230 “creates a duty of care for organizers, hosts and performers of indecent exhibitions to take reasonable steps to restrict the access of minors.” Hill said the bill is intended as a time, place and manner regulation and that it does not criminalize performers: “drag is not mentioned once,” he said, and “private events are exempt.”

Why it matters: The measure would allow private civil lawsuits by or on behalf of minors allegedly exposed to covered conduct and provides several statutory defenses for hosts and organizers. Supporters say the bill protects children; opponents say the language is vague, targets LGBTQ performers and will chill lawful expression and family-friendly events.

The bill defines covered conduct as two elements modeled on the Federal Communications Commission’s indecency standard: (1) the presence of specified sexualized conduct and (2) that the conduct be “patently offensive to an average person applying contemporary community standards” with respect to minors. Edward Clark, policy assistant at the Idaho Family Policy Center, said the bill includes three stakeholder-driven…