Yavapai News

Arizona Republicans are blasting their Democrat colleagues after a bill requiring sexually explicit materials be kept out of reach of children was shot down and vetoed.

According to a press release posted to Twitter by the Arizona Senate GOP, State Sen. Jake Hoffman introduced SB1696 which would criminalize filming sexually explicit content on publicly owned spaces including schools. The bill would “forbid government property from being used to film or facilitate sexually explicit acts.” The bill also included clauses on keeping sexually explicit materials out of the reach of children. SB1696 was shot down by Democrat politicians and vetoed by Gov. Katie Hobbs.

"The Yavapai Democratic Party and the Arizona Democratic Party want to sexually groom your children. #VoteThemOut," Arizona State Sen. Anthony Kern wrote in a June 6 Twitter post.

The bill was introduced following an incident in the fall of 2022 when it was discovered that two Lake Havasu teachers were filming adult content for their "OnlyFans" account in a classroom. New York Post reported that former Thunderbolt Middle School science teacher Samantha Peer uploaded the content to her subscribers only page with her husband as a way to supplement their income. Her husband Dillion was a teacher at Nautilus elementary school. The teachers said that they filmed the content after hours when students were not in the building. Both teachers resigned following backlash to the situation.

Arizona Democrats claim that SB1696's stipulations requiring certain materials to be kept from children are too broad and that the bill is a veiled attempt at book banning. “This is ridiculous. Do something for Arizonans beyond grandstanding and grifting,” they wrote in a June 1 Twitter post.

According to Mohave Valley Daily News, while few opposed the filming portion of Hoffman's bill, the bill was still vetoed by Governor Hobbs who said “While I agree that not all content is appropriate for minors, this bill is a poor way to address those concerns.” Her decision was focused on the latter parts of the bill, and she said that Hoffman shouldn't have tied the Lake Havasu teacher incident with censorship.