House Bill No. 454

Introduced By _______________________________________________________________________________



A Bill for an Act entitled: "An Act generally revising the laws relating to obscenity; amending section

45-8-201, MCA; and repealing section 45-8-203, MCA."



Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Montana:



Section 1.  Section 45-8-201, MCA, is amended to read:

"45-8-201.   Obscenity. (1) A person commits the offense of obscenity when if the person, with knowledge of the obscene nature thereof, he purposely or character of the item involved, knowingly:

(a)  sells, delivers, or provides or offers or agrees to sell, deliver, or provide any obscene writing, picture, record, or other representation or embodiment of the obscene to anyone under the age of 18;

(b)  presents or directs an obscene play, dance, or other performance that is open to the public, or participates in that portion thereof which of the performance that makes it obscene, to anyone under the age of 18;

(c)  publishes, exhibits, or otherwise makes available anything obscene to anyone under the age of 18;

(d)  performs an obscene act or otherwise presents an obscene exhibition of his the person's body to anyone under the age of 18;

(e)  creates, buys, procures, or possesses obscene matter or material with the purpose to disseminate of disseminating it to anyone under the age of 18; or

(f)  advertises or otherwise promotes the sale of obscene material or materials represented or held out by him the person to be obscene.

(2)  A thing is obscene if:

(a)  (i) it is a representation or description of the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the material or performance depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, perverted ultimate sexual acts, actual or simulated; or

(ii) it is a patently offensive representation or description of normal ultimate sexual acts, actual or simulated; or

(iii) it is a patently offensive representation or description of masturbation, excretory functions, sadomasochistic abuse, or lewd exhibition of the genitals; and

(b)  taken as a whole the material:

(i)  the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the material or performance appeals to the prurient interest in sex;

(ii) portrays conduct described in subsection (2)(a)(i), (2)(a)(ii), or (2)(a)(iii) in a patently offensive way; and

(iii) to a reasonable person, the material or performance, lacks serious literary, artistic, literary, political, or scientific value.

(3)  In any prosecution for an offense under this section, evidence shall be is admissible to show:

(a)  the predominant appeal of the material and what effect, if any, it would probably have on the behavior of people;

(b)  the artistic, literary, political, or scientific, educational, or other merits value of the material;

(c)  the degree of public acceptance of the material in the community;

(d)  appeal to prurient interest or absence thereof of that appeal in advertising or other promotion of the material; or

(e)  the purpose of the author, creator, publisher, or disseminator.

(4)  A person convicted of obscenity shall be fined at least $500 but not more than $1,000 or imprisoned in the county jail for a term not to exceed 6 months, or both.

(5)  Cities, towns, or counties may adopt ordinances or resolutions which that are more restrictive as to obscenity than the provisions of 45-8-206 and this section."



NEW SECTION. Section 2.  Repealer. Section 45-8-203, MCA, is repealed.

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