Utah Governor vetoes Jack Thompson’s violent video game bill

I bet Jack Thompson‘s not smiling now. His video game/movie bill may have been passed overwhelmingly by the Utah House and Senate, but it seems he didn’t count on the Final Boss of the Utah Government.

According to GamePolitics, Thompson himself told them that Utah Governor Jon Huntsman (R) has vetoed HB 353. Thompson also told GamePolitics that backers of the bill are still looking for a way to override the Governor’s veto.

HB 353 amends the Truth in Advertising law, stating that retailers and movie theaters that advertise that they don’t sell M-rated games games or R-rated movie tickets to underage buyers and then do so will be fined US$ 2,000.

Word is that some energetic lobbying by retailers helped push the Governor to veto the bill. Here’s Gov. Huntsman’s explanation of his decision:

After careful consideration and study, I have decided to veto HB 353…

While protecting children from inappropriate materials is a laudable goal, the language of this bill is so broad that it likely will be struck down by the courts as an unconstitutional violation of the Dormant Commerce Clause and/or the First Amendment.

The industries most affected by this new requirement indicated that rather than risk being held liable under this bill, they would likely choose to no longer issue age appropriate labels on goods and services.

Therefore, the unintended consequence of the bill would be that parents and children would have no labels to guide them in determining the age appropriateness of the goods or service, thereby increasing childrenÂ’s potential exposure to something they or their parents would have otherwise determined was inappropriate under the voluntary labeling system now being recognized and embraced by a significant majority of vendors.

Via GamePolitics

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