Revenge porn could become a crime in Arizona this week

PHOENIX — After a too-broad bill in the 2014 Legislature and a missed opportunity last year, revenge porn could become a crime in Arizona this week.

In the first week of the Arizona House session, lawmakers rushed through a bill that would make it a felony for a jilted lover to intentionally share a sexual photo or video of a former partner without permission and with the intent to harm, harass or intimidate. The Senate gave the bill final approval Monday, sending it to Gov. Doug Ducey for his consideration.

House Bill 2001 includes an emergency clause allowing it to go into effect immediately upon Ducey's signature. Twenty-six other states have laws punishing revenge porn, according to the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, a group that began in 2012 to advocate for victims.

"For folks, mostly guys, who are using technology to hurt ex-girlfriends, we really need to put a stop to it," GOP Rep. J.D. Mesnard of Chandler, Ariz., who sponsored the bill, has said. "It's not OK to use things done in a trusting relationship to hurt them. This can damage them personally and professionally. It follows them the rest of their lives."

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While the bill moved through the Legislature quickly this session, Mesnard introduced and the Legislature passed a similar bill in 2014. Then-Gov. Jan Brewer signed it.

But a group of local librarians, publishers, photographers and bookstore owners sued, alleging it was so broadly written that it would have a chilling effect on First Amendment-protected speech and could land them in prison for merely displaying, publishing or selling some nude images.

At the time, the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona's senior counsel, Dan Pochoda, said unlike similar laws in about a dozen other states, Arizona's original version included no requirement of malicious intent.

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"So, there's no exception for things like artistic or even public interest, like a photo in a newspaper," he said at the time. "We call it the anti-nudity bill."

State officials agreed to kill the original law so the Legislature could try again.

Mesnard introduced a revised version during the 2015 session. The House passed it, but it died on the last night of session when the Senate got tired of waiting and decided to go home before the House concluded its work.

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Mesnard reintroduced that version this session.

"This very real problem has been able to continue because of this bill being bogged down," Mesnard has said. "I'm doing my utmost to fast-track this so we can get something back on the books."

Follow Alia Beard Rau on Twitter: @aliarau