Last year, I sponsored a bill, establishing the crime of unsolicited disclosure of an intimate image. I had seen that Texas and NYC had established similar bans, and as a victim of harassment via intimate images, I was excited to be in a position where I could sponsor similar legislation.The bill fell victim to the pandemic’s shortening of the legislative timeline and didn’t get a vote in the Senate, though I was excited that it had passed the House on a voice vote. Ironically, harassment via the unsolicited sharing of intimate images online has become much more prevalent during the pandemic, and this bill is much needed.

This year, I resubmitted the bill, with the committee amendment from the year before. Though the majority party had changed, the bill was passed on the Consent Calendar with little fanfare.

The bill is now in the Senate, where the Judiciary Committee amended the bill and put it on the Senate’s Consent Calendar. I was truly relieved that this important bill would go through with little opposition.

However, the bill was pulled from the Consent Calendar on April 22nd by Senator Giuda (R-Warren), and special ordered to the next week by the Senate Majority Leader, Senator Bradley (R-Wolfeboro). The bill has now been special ordered to next week a third time, which is virtually unheard of and seems like a cause for alarm. The first time was unusual, but the public was told there was a floor amendment and it needed to be distributed first, and that needed some time. Now, on the third time the Senate has put off a vote on this bill, I personally am left with questions.

So, now the bill will be on the floor for a fourth time May 13th. The pending motion is Ought to Pass. I’ve yet to see an amendment. Why are the Senate Republicans keeping this bill in legislative purgatory. Clearly, they like the idea, otherwise it would not have come out of committee with a positive recommendation.

Does it have anything to do with a certain senator’s own inappropriate online predicament last summer? Given the partisan nature of the motion, maybe more than one Republican senator is attempting to protect perpetrators of this type of harassment?

Special ordering an unremarkable bill like this twice is unusual, and special ordering a third time to “next week” is like nothing I have ever seen. Shall we tune in next week to see a historic moment, whether this bill, one of the first of its kind, is passed or put off for another week a fourth time?

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