Bill restricting porn cartoons heads to governor

Monday, June 30, 1997 | 11:03 a.m.

Assemblyman John Lee, D-Las Vegas, grinned and raised a fist as the Assembly voted unanimously to accept a Senate-Assembly compromise on AB336.

Lee introduced AB336 in an effort to restrict access by minors to foreign cartoons, which are often unrated.

After the Assembly passed the bill, the Senate Judiciary Committee had proposed an amendment that also would have banned pornographic computer programs and video games.

The amendment won approval in the Senate despite objections that it could lead to delicately placed fig leaves on works of art and other acts of censorship.

But the Assembly refused to concur in the amendment, leading to a joint Senate-Assembly conference session to work out the differences between the two houses.

Assemblyman Dario Herrera, D-Las Vegas, one of the conferees, announced Monday that the Senate had agreed to abandon the amendment.

"We were right and they were wrong," Herrera said.

In earlier hearings on the bill, Lee showed clips of "Ninja Scroll," a Japanese-made cartoon that depicts graphic rape and mutilation scenes. In one segment, a warrior rips the arm off another character and drinks the blood.

Lee had argued that such films are often placed in the children's sections of video stores by unwitting employees who think the films are appropriate for children simply because they're animated.

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