TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A discussion in the state Senate turned a bit, um, testy over an issue that this usually august body rarely has occasion to discuss: replica bull testicles hanging from vehicles.

In some parts of Florida it has become fashionable to attach the reproductions to the back of pickup trucks. At least one person, Sen. Carey Baker, R-Eustis, is offended.

Baker is sponsoring an amendment that would allow police to give drivers a $60 ticket if they have the object hanging from a vehicle. The amendment was added to a bill April 17 after an awkward discussion in which the Senate tried to debate the issue without being too graphic — with several schoolchildren watching from the galleries.

The provision was attached to a highway safety bill (S.B. 1992), but earlier this week there was an effort to take the language out of the bill. The discussion got a bit graphic and Senate President Ken Pruitt told members that if the issue were going to come up again he wanted the discussion a bit more refined.

So on April 17, several senators tread gingerly as they discussed "glands" that would no longer be allowed on cars.

But despite a few snickers, several lawmakers noted the issue was serious: When is something offensive enough — and who decides what's offensive — for the government to tell someone he can't display it?

"I don't think this is frivolous," said Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville. "It's someone making a determination that they thought it was either obscene or vulgar or whatever, and therein lies the problem."

Sen. Steve Geller, D-Cooper City, agreed. "I find it shocking that we should be telling people that have the metallic bull testicles ... you're now going to have points on your license for this," Geller said. He wondered whether the next step might be to try to ban a popular bumper sticker that shows the Calvin character from the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip urinating on something.

Baker agreed that "it is a gray area," when the state starts telling people what they can and can't express on their car.

In fact, Baker did agree to remove language from his original amendment that would have allowed police broader power to issue tickets for any obscene car adornment. But, Baker said, the testicles are obscene.

If the ban were to become law and it were challenged, it would be up to a judge to decide whether the state had an interest in banning the decoration that outweighed someone's right to expression.

"If somebody cared enough about their desire to have old testicles on their car, they could mount a pretty good challenge," said a bemused Floyd Abrams, one of the nation's top lawyers specializing in freedom-of-speech issues.

The proposal may not hang around for long — the House doesn't have the issue in its highway safety bill.

Baker admitted he had more serious issues to deal with this session, but he said that if the state didn't draw a line on what is obscene, even more objectionable car adornments might appear.

King actually had some of the bull "glands" on his truck — until his wife ordered them removed. "I have a Suburban that is all pimped out," said King, 68. He ordered the replica bull parts from somewhere in Tennessee and put them on. "It is a boss truck," King said. But every time his wife would drive to the store, "people were driving by her and honking at the bull glands."

A final vote on the bill in the Senate could come as early as next week.