LINCOLN, NE — A self-described “pornography addict,” a state senator and the Catholic church have banded together in Nebraska to convince legislators it’s high time the state unified — and strengthened — its adult entertainment laws.A new bill pending before the state Senate seeks to regulate where adult establishments may locate, employee behavior and operating hours. Although LB 443 has been praised by religious and social conservatives, legislators and free-speech watchdogs have criticized the measure as potentially unconstitutional.

Even state Sen. Mark Christensen [R-Imperial], who in introducing LB 443 called it “dollars versus decency,” said the bill was “the most controversial and difficult” he has introduced this session.

LB 443 would impose a one-quarter-mile buffer zone between any adult business and “family friendly” zones like schools, churches, daycare centers and playgrounds. In addition, the bill seeks to impose a buffer zone of six feet between strippers and patrons and to prohibit any touching in gentlemen’s clubs. Furthermore, an operating-hours restriction in LB 443 would prevent exotic dancers from removing clothing after 11:00 pm.

Christensen said statewide regulation of adult entertainment businesses not only would make enforcement easier, but also would protect residents of small or financially strapped communities that may not have the resources to enact or enforce their own regulations.

“Minimum standards across the state will protect women and children, especially in smaller communities that may not have the resources to effectively protect their communities from negative secondary effects of [a sexually oriented business] through good regulation,” he told NewsNetNebraska.com.

Christensen cited several studies from other states indicating that the presence of adult businesses increases the rate of crimes like theft, assault, drug use and rape in addition to devaluing nearby property. An American Civil Liberties Union attorney, however, said that without evidence adult entertainment harms Nebraska, Christensen’s proposed law may be unconstitutionally restrictive.

That the bill is not tailored to address documented local problems makes it an “impermissible infringement on the First Amendment,” ACLU Nebraska attorney Amy Miller told a Senate committee during hearings about LB 443. “They want to prove these limitations, but those are national studies, not showing what happens in Nebraska. There needs to be a study that shows that in Nebraska. The legislature does have a right to come up with a solution that is tailored to meet whatever we discover the problems to be in Nebraska.”

Although representatives from the Catholic church, anti-porn groups and a porn addict testified about the ways in which they perceive adult entertainment and materials harming Nebraska communities, Miller said their testimony comprised opinion, not facts.

“The testifiers that were anti-porn had a larger agenda,” she told senators. “Porn, whether people find it dirty or not, will always be protected [by the First Amendment].”

Ultimately, Miller said, LB 443 is “a foolish waste of taxpayer money.”