CARSON CITY -- Members of a Nevada Senate panel struggled Wednesday with legal definitions and constitutional concerns in debating a bill that would allow some signs on sidewalks while blocking others.

Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, who sponsored Senate Bill 13, said he was motivated by the arrests of two street preachers on the Strip in 2005. The bill says governments can't restrict the content of a sign displayed on a sidewalk.

Care said he could add the words "lawful content" to try to resolve concerns that hate speech, pornography, incitement of violence or commercial content might be displayed on some signs. Court precedent already has imposed some limits in such cases.

Another sticking point during a Senate Commerce and Labor subcommittee hearing on Care's bill was how to deal with public sidewalks when they are located on private property.

"One of the issues we are toying with is how not to infringe upon your right to express yourself when the traditional public forum where you are going to do that is a public sidewalk located on private property," Care said afterward.

Care's target is a Clark County ordinance that regulates what size of sign can be displayed on a public sidewalk, but makes an exception for labor pickets. The bill would amend the charters of communities around the state, preventing them from making content-specific rules for sidewalk signs.