February, A Short, Busy Month!
This month we celebrate a variety of events and honor many people. February is a month when we experience the joy of Valentine’s Day and doing special things for those we love. It’s Black History month where we honor the efforts and actions of our black Americans. It’s also American Heart month. All of these things packed into the shortest month of the year.
It’s also the first full month of new legislation. We’ve been following two months of prefilling’s and now a few weeks of new bills. The early filings were coming in hot from many states, but Missouri and South Carolina were leading the pack. Bills making it illegal to take or manipulate nude images of any kind is one such bill. Another bill seeks to make seeing a nude body a crime if it causes emotional distress to the person who sees a nude body. Intent seems to be missing from both of these bills. With digital imaging the norm these days, almost all images are manipulated in some way. Those photos you took at your club’s party or event, in the wrong state they make you a criminal. These are the types of bills your Government Affairs Team deal with every year.
AANR has committed to tracking this type of legislation and taking action to stop it from becoming law. Your support through your dues and direct support to GAT make this effort possible along with the volunteers of the GAT team who actually do the bulk of the reviews. Member input on local issues is another critical aspect of your help to GAT. On the AANR website under government affairs there is an area for you to fill out a request for review of local items you can alert us to before they become effective. You are the key to AANR’s success in preserving our freedom and championing our fight to keep public lands free for nude use and expand those opportunities. So, whether you are celebrating Groundhog Day or National Take Your Child to a Library Day, know your efforts and support are welcome, appreciated, and needed all year long.
Tim Mullins
AANR Government Affairs Chair.
