Utah

Utah Senate OKs Sanctions on Sales of M-rated Games to Minors

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 13, 2009 - 10:49am.

Salt Lake City, Utah - The Utah Senate this week passed a bill that would fine retailers who sold M-rated video games to minors, if they had previously advertised that they would not do so, Ars Technica reported.

Violent Video Game Bills Shelved in Utah, Iowa

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 3, 2006 - 7:14am.

Salt Lake City, Utah - A bill passed in the Utah State House, that would have branded violent video games as obscenity and prohibited them from sale to minors much like pornography, has failed to move in the Utah State Senate, and thus will not move forward this year. "We are pleased that the Utah bill was not enacted at this time," said Doug Lowenstein, president of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), a video game trade group that has sued to overturn similar laws in several states. "We continue to believe that bills such as this one are both unconstitutional and unnecessary." Meanwhile, a bill in the state of Iowa that would have banned the sale of violent video games to minors has also been defeated, after failing to be brought to a vote before a deadline passed.

tags: Bills | Utah | Violent Video Game | Iowa |

Utah Looks to Adds Violent Games to Obscenity Law, Ban Sales to Minors

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 16, 2006 - 8:31am.

Salt Lake City, Utah - A bill that would include violent video games in the state of Utah's obscenity laws, and make it a felony to exhibit such games to minors, has passed in a committee and now heads to the Utah House for debate, the Utah Daily Herald reported. The bill would put the same legal test to violent games that applies to pornography; namely, that games are obscene if they are deemed so by community standards, and contain no serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors. "This is a bill that identifies the effects that different media has on our children," said Utah Rep. David Hogue, a Republican from Riverton. The Entertainment Software Association, a video game industry trade group, said the bill was not needed. "More importantly, the bill will be challenged as unconstitutional," the ESA's Scott Sabey told the Daily Herald. "To plug violence into an obscenity statute won't work." The ESA has already successfully sued to have video game bans declared unconstitutional on free speech grounds in a number of states.