Despite the Utah State Senate's passage of HB 353 by an overwhelming 25-4 margin, the bill is racing against the clock to survive.
Because the Senate amended the bill (more about that later) it now must go back to the Utah House for approval.
The catch is, that all has to happen by midnight in Salt Lake City. Which means that, as I write this, there are about 5.5 hours to get this done. The House is on a dinner break at this moment, which ends at 7:00 P.M. their time, leaving five hours of actual time to work on legislative business.
It seems doable, but HB 353 isn't listed on the House activity calendar yet, so...
UPDATE: Jack Thompson, who drafted the original version of the bill, commented on the time pressure in an e-mail to GamePolitics:
Now it's back to the House with the amended Senate bill, which applies to all sales, including Internet sales. This is fun, and the question is, does it strike midnight before we win?
UPDATE 2: HB 353 status page shows that the House has concurred with the Senate amendments. Next stop for the bill is Gov. Huntsman's desk.
Comments
Re: Now, Utah Bill Races Against the Clock
Ah yes, this is a true victory for him. getting a bill passed that would make retailers not want to abide by the voluntary ESRB "suggestions".... oh wait.
unless... he wants the retailers to do this so he can point and say "see! the industry does sell to kids!" only for everyone with a sane mind to say back "yea... because of you!"
Re: Now, Utah Bill Races Against the Clock
His probable response being: "Wait, you're all in on it!"
Re: Now, Utah Bill Races Against the Clock
"Now it's back to the House with the amended Senate bill, which applies to all sales, including Internet sales. This is fun, and the question is, does it strike midnight before we win?"
Can you name a single retailer that advertises it requires personal ID for online sales of Mature titles?
You're living in a fantasy world, Jack, if you think this law will in any way enable your crusade against the video game industry. It's as simple as the retailers saying nothing to the effect that they positively do not sell Mature-rated titles to minors, and saying instead something like "we reserve the right to refuse sales of Mature-rated titles to customers who fail to present proper identification", which neither implies nor creates an obligation to do so.
Re: Now, Utah Bill Races Against the Clock
Jack, you silly fool. This is what you would consider winning? A toothless turd, barely what you proposed due to the amendments? Myeh, I guess it's better than nothing...
Re: Now, Utah Bill Races Against the Clock
A toothless turd that only encompasses less than 1/10'000th of the land available on Earth.
Utah is one state. Out of 49. With the United states being the only place to even have this law, United states isn't even a continent. With 6 other continents to pick from...
This bill is so small and insignificant to the outside world. It won't make any decent impact anywhere else other than Utah, and even then, it'd be more of a bubble wrap pop, than a decent explosion.
Re: Now, Utah Bill Races Against the Clock
I think the fact that he actually got a bill to pass (regardless of his amendments) is victory for him. If the Supreme Court hears his case, he can point to this bill as a good thing (think of it as a 'feather in the cap'). It could potentially sway some judges to his side. It would be a good political strategy for Mr. Thompson.
If it doesn't help him win over the judges; he could try to squeeze himself into more and more political debates about violent video games and how to regulate them. I really think this is just step 1 for his 're-birth' plan.
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