AB 1576 Defeated in Appropriations Committee Suspense Hearing

SACRAMENTO—AB 1576, the bill sponsored by Assemblyman Isadore Hall III which would have required condoms and other barrier protections for performers acting in adult movies, has been defeated, according to Kink.com CEO Peter Acworth and Free Speech Coalition. The Senate Appropriations Committee, which is still in session, has reportedly considered the expenses that would be attendant to the bill's passage, including such expenses as hiring additional Cal/OSHA investigators to visit adult sets to enforce compliance, as well as drawing up regulations and devising recordkeeping to keep track of producers' compliance with its requirements. “We’re grateful to the members of the Senate who saw this bill for what it was: a bald-faced attempt to exploit performers for political gain," said Diane Duke, CEO of Free Speech Coalition, which organized to defeat the bill. "But the assault had an unintended consequence: it unified performers and producers in ways that we haven’t seen in decades. Out of this grows a stronger industry, one not intimidated by harassment campaigns like AB 1576. But the battle is not actually over, for we must always work to make sure our productions are safe and legal, that our performers have a strong voice in their own sexual health, and to keep a thriving industry in California." The bill was opposed by a wide variety of organizations, including The Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, the Transgender Law Center, testing center St. James Infirmary, the Los Angeles GLBT Law Center, Project Inform of San Francisco, and AIDS Project Los Angeles. It was also opposed by the Valley Industry & Commerce Association. "The bill never made it off the suspense file, which means that it's dead for this legislative session, so AB 1576 will not advance to the Senate for a vote," said Michael Stabile, a spokesperson for Free Speech Coalition. "As is the Appropriation Committee's practice, they don't say what the vote was or even if there was a vote. Officially, there is no vote; it's a purely budgetary decision, so they just tell you 'yes' or 'no,' if it advances or doesn't. The fact that it did not advance suggests that it did not have support either within the Appropriations Committee or on the Senate floor. It's also worth noting that some of the strongest voices against this bill were from anti-HIV organizations, LGBT groups and sexworker rights organizations. We had great support from outside the industry from many groups and individuals who knew what a bad bill this was."