By Bob Katzen

House 2-154, rejected an amendment striking a current law which prevents employees of schools, libraires and museums from being prosecuted for violating obscenity laws if the evidence proves that the defendant was acting in the course of his or her employment as an employee of those entities.

Rep. John Gaskey (R-Carver), the sponsor of the amendment, said current law unfairly grants absolute unchecked legal immunity to government employees, rendering them completely unaccountable to taxpayers who fund them. He said the House is establishing an elite class of citizens in Massachusetts and saying to the working class taxpayers who fund schools that if they distribute explicit adult material to a minor, they will go to state prison; but if a state-certified bureaucrat does it under the vague banner of an educational purpose, they get statutory immunity and can’t be fined, fired or prosecuted.

Rep. Adam Scanlon (D-North Attleborough), who voted against the amendment, said that this existing protection is a good one that shields schools, libraries and museums from obscenity enforcement when materials have legitimate educational, literary, artistic or scientific value. He argued that the underlying bill already establishes clear, meaningful standards for what materials may be included in school libraries, and that removing the existing protection would expose educators and librarians to criminal obscenity proceedings simply for doing their jobs.

(A “Yes” vote is for the amendment which strikes the protection and therefore opposes the protection. A “No” vote is against the amendment and therfore supports the protection.)

Rep. Christine Barber No Rep. Mike Connolly No Rep. Paul Donato No Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven No