1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

I am writing to express my strong opposition to Senate Bill 20, which recently passed unanimously in the Texas Senate. While I understand the intent behind this legislation—to prevent the dissemination of obscene material involving minors—the bill's language is overly broad and risks criminalizing lawful media, including widely respected works of art, literature, and entertainment. As written, Senate Bill 20 would penalize the possession of any visual material depicting a minor in an "obscene" way, regardless of whether the depiction is an actual child, an animation, or an AI-generated image. The bill’s vague definitions create the potential for broad misinterpretation, leading to unintended consequences for fans, collectors, and creators of anime, manga, video games, and other forms of artistic expression. Many popular and culturally significant anime, manga, and video game franchises include depictions of high-school-age characters in romantic or suggestive contexts. For instance, series such as Persona, Bleach, Kill la Kill, Gurren Lagann, and Monogatari feature themes and storytelling elements that could be misclassified as violations under this law. These works, while sometimes provocative, have clear artistic, literary, and cultural merit and should not be subject to criminalization. Furthermore, the bill’s reliance on an ambiguous standard—defining obscenity based on whether material "lacks serious literary, artistic, political, and scientific value"—leaves too much room for subjective interpretation. What one person deems obscene, another may see as an essential artistic expression or a critical commentary on societal issues. This lack of clarity puts consumers and artists in a precarious legal position and risks unnecessary prosecution over content that has long been legally available and culturally significant. In addition to stifling creative expression, the passage of this bill could set a troubling precedent for government overreach in regulating fictional media. The First Amendment protects freedom of expression, including artistic and literary works that some may find controversial. Laws that seek to restrict such expression must be carefully crafted to target actual harm rather than broadly restricting media based on subjective interpretations. I urge you to reconsider this bill’s implications and work toward legislation that truly protects children without undermining free expression and criminalizing widely accepted art forms. Please oppose Senate Bill 20 in its current form and advocate for a more precise, constitutionally sound approach to addressing these concerns. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. I appreciate your service to our state and look forward to your response..