In this file photo from March 22, 2016, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback signs legislation at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/John Hanna).

Topeka ? Gov. Sam Brownback signed 17 bills into law Wednesday, including one that makes it easier to prosecute people for transmitting sexually explicit images using electronic devices, even if the images were taken consensually.

Another bill, with provisions aimed directly at Lawrence, prohibits local governments from regulating the sale price of residential real estate. It also prevents local governments from imposing standards on the nutrition content of food sold at retail.

House Bill 2501 deals with subjects commonly known as “sexting,” or sending sexually explicit images as text messages using a smartphone; and “revenge porn,” or the transmission of sexually explicit images or videos that were taken of consenting adults, but doing so for the purpose of harassing or intimidating one of the parties involved.

The sexting provision deals specifically with teenage couples and makes it easier to prosecute those cases by lowering the severity of the crime to a class A misdemeanor for a first offense.

Prosecutors had told lawmakers they were reluctant to take on cases of teenagers sending explicit text messages because, as a felony, a person convicted would have to register as a sex offender.

The reduced severity applies when the offender is younger than 19 and the image depicts a person ages 12 to 17 in a state of nudity.

Another provision of that bill amends statutes on blackmail and breach of privacy to include disseminating videos or other images of adults in a state of nudity with the intent to harass, threaten or intimidate the person depicted. The provision covers cases where a person consented to having the image taken but did not consent to having it distributed.

Officials say that sometimes happens when couples who have taken intimate images of themselves later divorce or break up, and one party uses those images to threaten or harass the other party.

Local control

Senate Bill 366 contains provisions from three bills that were initially considered separately during the session.

One, aimed specifically at Lawrence, prohibits local governments from regulating the sale price of residential real estate.

It’s meant to prevent local governments from enacting what are called “inclusionary zoning” laws, an idea that has been talked about as a strategy to promote affordable housing and mixed-income neighborhoods.

Under those laws, a certain number of housing units within a development would be set aside as affordable housing, and limits would be placed on the resale price of those units.

Another provision of the bill includes what some people call an “anti-Bloomberg” provision, named after former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg whose administration attempted to ban the sale of large sugary soft drinks.

It prohibits local governments from regulating the nutritional content or labeling of food sold through retail outlets, or from regulating certain kinds of marketing and promotional strategies, such as offering toys, games or prizes to go along with kids meals sold in fast food restaurants.

A third provision prohibits local governments from enacting their own labor laws that would regulate the work schedules of private-sector employees.

This story has been edited to correct an age range in the description of the reduced penalty for teenage sexting.