Strip Club Crackdown in Missouri?

A strict new proposal to regulate strip clubs and other adult-entertainment venues in Missouri has opponents arguing that millions of dollars in revenue and hundreds of jobs could be lost in difficult economic times.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Governor Jay Nixon, a Democrat, has yet to announce whether he will sign or veto the bill, which would automatically become law on July 10.

"Last month the Republican-controlled legislature passed one of the nation's toughest state laws aimed at strip clubs and other adult-entertainment venues," the Journal reported. "It would ban nude dancing and the serving of alcohol in adult cabarets, force strip clubs to close at midnight and forbid seminude dancers to touch patrons."

State senator Matt Bartle, a Republican and chief sponsor of the bill, said he aims to protect vulnerable women who work in the adult-entertainment industry and to prevent the spread of perceived social ills. Opponents of the measure have promised a legal fight if it becomes law.

"Club owners and dancers say that the venues rarely attract crime and that the new rules would be so strict that hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in state revenue could be lost at a time when Missouri's economy is struggling to recover from the recession," according to the Journal.