The folks who want porn stars to start using condoms have qualified just such a proposal for the November ballot in L.A. County.
But before you get to vote on it, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors gets a shot today.
The soops must approve the measure’s certification for the ballot and then decide whether to approve mandatory condoms in porn themselves or pass on the decision to you, the voter:
The L.A. City Council decided to approve just such a measure early this year when the same organizers, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, presented it with the same choice:
The council approved mandatory condoms for location porn shoots in the city but has yet to work out how the rule will be enforced.
The supervisors might face the same predicament.
The multi-billion-dollar porn industry, which is mainly based in L.A. County, has been fighting the condom efforts.
In fact, condoms are already mandatory according to state workplace officials’ interpretation of federal law. The problem, as the L.A. City Council quickly discovered, is actually enforcing them.
The industry says consumers won’t buy condom porn and that its once-a-month performer-testing protocol works.
AHF is forging ahead with what it says is a life-saver for adult workers. The group’s president, Michael Weinstein, stated previously:
This ordinance, modeled after the County’s similar health permitting process for tattoo and massage parlors and bathhouses, should go a long way to improve safety on the sets for adult film performers.
[Update at 3:13 p.m.]: The supervisors put of the vote until July 24.
According to City News Service, there were …
… questions about county’s legal authority to enforce the proposed rule in 85 cities that contract with the county for public health services.
Could the county force the cities within to enforce the rule, asked Supervisor Gloria Molina.
The query will be taken up by county counsel, apparently, in time for the July 24 vote.
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