AB 1576 to Be Heard by Calif. Senate Appropriations Panel on Monday

A state Senate panel on Monday, August 4 will weigh whether AB 1576, the bill that would mandate condom use on all adult productions shot in California, moves forward.

The state Senate Appropriations Committee will decide whether it is worth it for taxpayers to put stringent measures on an industry that has, for the most part, regulated itself.

The vote likely will come down to the dollars and cents scribed down in a new analysis of the bill that will be released on Thursday, according to the Free Speech Coalition’s chief executive officer, Diane Duke.

Duke told XBIZ on Wednesday that the bill likely could end up in the so-called “suspense file” and stall because the expenditure to facilitate the bill exceeds $50,000, a threshold for bills that are destined to go on to the full state Senate.

“A key date is Aug. 15, when we will learn whether the bill moves forward for a vote by the full Senate, or it goes to ‘suspense,’ ” Duke said. “We think it will go to the ‘suspense’ file.”

Monday’s vote will be taken by Senate Appropriations Committee members Sens. Kevin de León, Mimi Walters, Ted Gaines, Jerry Hill, Ricardo Lara, Alex Padilla and Darrell Steinberg.

Duke noted that Assemblyman Isadore Hall, who authored the bill, has a “flawed argument” and that many are turned off by the “side by side  relationship” that he has with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which has sponsored numerous proposals over regulating porn productions and mandating barrier protections.

“We think many of the legislators are pro-filmmaking and have a full grip on the situation — that production jobs are being pushed out of Southern California,” she said.

Last month, the state Senate and Labor Relations panel passed AB 1576, 3-1.

AB 1576 requires a minimum 14-day employer-paid testing protocol and use of a condom or barrier device in the production of adult film.

The bill also mandates that porn production companies keep confidential employee health records indefinitely, use “plastic and other disposable materials” to clean sets and provide all employees with a safety training program.

Last summer, the FSC and many in the adult industry cheered on to victory after AB 640, also authored by Hall, was tossed into the “suspense” file.

AHF at the time accused Assemblyman Mike Gatto with “single-handedly blocking” the bill, as well as an earlier related bill, AB 332.

Gatto, however, voted for AB 1576 in the state Assembly several months ago, paving the way for it to travel to the state Senate for review, where it stands now.

XBIZ