Record-sticker Bill Defeated In Georgia

WASHINGTON, D.C.--A state bill in Georgia that would have made it a misdemeanor to sell an album with a parental-advisory logo to a minor was defeated in that state's House of Representatives March 6.
The bill was voted out of a House committee last month (Billboard, Feb. 21).
The bill's defeat was a victory for the entertainment-industry groups that had lobbied against it. Joining the Recording Industry Assn. of America (RIAA) in efforts to defeat the bill, H.B. 1170, were Georgia retailers, more than 1,000 employees of the Sony CD-manufacturing plant in Carrollton, Ga., and representatives of the National Assn. of Recording Merchandisers, the Media Coalition, and the Motion Picture Assn. of America.
The groups convinced lawmakers that the bill "took a voluntary program meant to provide guidance for parents and turned it into the basis for convicting somebody of a crime," according to Joel Flatow, the RIAA's VP of government affairs and artist relations.
The RIAA is also fighting similar sticker bills in Tennessee and Wisconsin and another bill in Wisconsin that would prevent the state Investment Board from investing in companies that produce music with objectionable lyrics. A similar bill is on the legislative docket in Virginia.
The trade group is also lobbying against a "community standards" obscenity bill in Pennsylvania that would allow towns and municipalities to create their own definitions of obscenity, in effect making it impossible for companies to distribute within the state any albums with even a whisper of controversy about them. A similar bill has been introduced in South Dakota. BILL HOLLAND