SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah legislature passed a bill on Tuesday to put warning labels on pornography, bringing immediate condemnation from the Free Speech Coalition (FSC).
The bill, HB243, passed the Utah House of Representatives by a 60-12 margin. It will require a printed warning label on physical media and a 15-second disclaimer on online content. Penalties include a fine of up to $2,500.
"I think it will make a difference," the author of the bill, Republican state Representative Brady Brammer, told ABC News. "It won’t stop every problem related to obscenity, it will not stop all obscenity, but it will move the ball further down the field."
FSC spokesperson Mike Stabile immediately condemned the bill. "Really, it just sort of opens up the floodgates for lawsuits over all sorts of content," he told ABC.
On February 5, when HB243 was proposed, Stabile released a statement on behalf of the FSC.
"The scope of the bill is dangerously broad and [could affect] not just explicit content, but mere nudity," read the statement. "All manner of film, video and social media content could be subject to prosecution. Under the bill, individual citizens are financially rewarded for bringing lawsuits against such content — from a 'Game of Thrones' clip to a Kim Kardashian selfie — if it shows so much as a bared breast and does not carry a warning of the dangers."
The bill still needs to pass the Utah State Senate before it can be enacted.
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