Adult Models, Directors and Crew Do NOT Want AHF’s Mandatory Condom Bill – #stopAB1576

AB 1576, the bill pushed by AIDS Healthcare Foundation which would essentially criminalize porn production in California, comes before the state Assembly’s Appropriation Committee WEDNESDAY, MAY 21st.

Adult performers, directors, small business owners, producers, crew and support staff oppose this terrible bill.

Please lend your support to #stopAB1576. Visit AB1576.org or click here to find out how you can help. Time is running out.

AB 1576 is NOT just a Mandatory Condom Bill

AB 1576 Weakens HIV Test Quality

The industry’s own current protocols for testing are more rigorous than those of the CDC or Department of Public Health Standards. AB 1576 requires only the less-accurate “rapid HIV antibody” test (with a window period of approximately 8-12 weeks between infection and detectability), whereas all professional adult producers now use the gold standard “HIV viral load” method (with a window of 7-10 days). Most adult ?lm producers already require full-panel STI testing no earlier than 14 days prior to any sexual shoot.

Daily, 5 new cases of HIV are reported in LA County alone. Yet under the adult business’ comprehensive testing protocol to protect workers, there has been no transmission of HIV on a regulated adult set nationwide in 10 years.

AB 1576 Creates Privacy and Liability Risks

AB 1576 threatens performer privacy and increases liability. Producers will be required to receive STI tests from performers and disclose details to the Department of Industrial Relations. This means performers will be forced to waive their medical rivacy rights in order to work. This not only compromises performer privacy, but also imposes significant increased liability in case of an unforeseen information breach.

AB 1576 Ends Freedom of Choice

AB 1576 would even requires condoms and testing for married, monogamous performers who shoot exclusively with each other. Performers, like all citizens of a democratic society, should keep their right to decide for their own bodies.

AB 1576 Reduces Legitimacy and Safety

AB 1576 will push many adult productions underground. Smaller producers that can’t afford to move will go underground, eliminating the security and silencing the openness that adult performers are afforded from working in a legal, transparent industry.

AB 1576 Wastes Public Funds

In a time of financial crisis in California, it is diffcult to justify the hundreds of thousands of dollars that would be required for the state to defend an appeal of the law and continuously monitor, enforce, and prosecute the elements of AB 1576. These costs do not even consider the lost jobs and revenue of productions leaving the state en masse. HIV funding in CA has already been significantly reduced. Diverting valuable dollars from existing programs to this program will only hurt those already infected with HIV and will reduce the resources to prevent others from contracting the disease.

AB 1576 Costs California Jobs and Revenue

With an effective date of January 1, 2015, AB 1576 will drive the adult film business out of California and take tens of thousands of jobs with it. The threat to leave CA is real. Kink.com, for example, has already committed to contingency plans to move most of its production to Las Vegas if AB 1576 passes. Since Measure B passed, adult filming has fled LA County, with a 95% reduction reported through FilmLA. Some producers have already moved out of California, while others await the result of the legal challenge and word on AB 1576. Furthermore, the shift in skilled editors, crews, and fully-equipped studios just across the border will make filming in more business-friendly Nevada an even more viable and attractive alternative for main-stream “Hollywood” film producers.

AB 1576 Interferes with a Pending Lawsuit

AB 1576 is also problematic because it interferes with a lawsuit currently pending in the Federal District Court after oral arguments were heard last month.   The lawsuit filed by Vivid Entertainment, as well as adult movie performers Kayden Kross and Logan Pierce, challenges the constitutionality of the recently adopted Los Angeles County ordinance, Measure B. The provisions in Measure B are very similar to the provisions in AB 1576 and may likewise violate the Free Speech Guarantees of the First Amendment.   It is unwise for the Legislature to approve a proposal whose constitutionality is in the midst of litigation.  The judicial system should be given an opportunity to conclude its review with a decision expected in 6-12 months.