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Strip club oversight bill gets Iowa House approval

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March 11th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Legislation giving Iowa cities more authority to regulate strip clubs easily won the support of the state House. Lawmakers approved the measure in an 89-10 vote on Monday. The bill would allow cities to pass ordinances prohibiting nudity in establishments in their jurisdiction. Iowa strip clubs are already subject to some limits set by city zoning laws and sales tax rules barring the sale of alcohol by businesses that allow public nudity.

The state Supreme Court ruled in a split decision last year that a city of Hamburg ordinance prohibiting nude dancing and alcohol consumption at sexually oriented businesses and requiring seminude employees to remain 6 feet from customers conflicted with a state law that superseded it. But the court didn’t declare all such restrictions unconstitutional.