Payne Calls for Committee Hearing on Porngate Legislation
HARRISBURG – Rep. John Payne (R-Dauphin) today renewed his call for action on legislation he introduced in response to the Porngate scandal. Payne’s
House Bill 780 would establish penalties for state employees who use Commonwealth-owned computers, networks or cellular phones to view and/or exchange pornography.
“While most state agencies have office policies prohibiting such use, there are no state laws banning this blatant misuse of taxpayer-funded assets or penalties for violations,” Payne said. “As allegations of these emails continue, I would like to see the House State Government Committee, which has oversight jurisdiction in this area, make this issue a priority for the fall legislative session.”
The Porngate scandal began in 2014 when Attorney General Kathleen Kane released rounds of pornographic emails exchanged on Commonwealth technology, prompting the retirement of Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffery and the resignations of Pennsylvania Environmental Protection Secretary Christopher Abruzzo, among others. Following her arraignment on several criminal charges last week, Kane alluded to thousands of additional emails exchanged by top government officials.
“There have been swirling accusations of wrongdoing surrounding this scandal for more than a year,” Payne said. “It’s time these emails are released, so we may fully assess the gravity of the problem and move forward to ensure anyone caught using taxpayer-funded resources for this purpose faces the proper consequences.”
Specifically, House Bill 780 would make it a third-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine, for a Commonwealth employee to knowingly use a state-owned computer network or cellular phone to display, disseminate, view, access, transfer, transmit or retransmit any photograph, video or other visual depiction of explicit sexual materials.
The bill would exempt conduct that is authorized or required by official duties and would not apply to someone who received and viewed the offensive material without prior knowledge of its content, as long as he or she didn’t forward it to anyone and notified his or her immediate supervisor upon receiving such email.
Representative John Payne
106th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Abbey Haslam
717.260.6222
ahaslam@pahousegop.com
RepPayne.com