A new bill that was recently proposed in California and is aimed at regulating the adult entertainment industry has prompted a severe backlash from the very people it is going to affect if adopted, NBC News reports.
According to the media outlet, the proposal in question, AB 2389, would mandate that adult film and webcam performers undergo fingerprinting in order to obtain a license to work; the bill would also require them to “complete training every two years on safety, human trafficking and workplace rights”, and to pay for said training out of their own pocket.
But even though the idea for the bill apparently comes from Amanda Gullesserian, founder of the International Entertainment Adult Union, it seems that some members of the organization’s board, along with other unions and advocacy groups representing people in the industry did not agree with her proposal.
"This criminalizes us, that’s absolutely what it does," stated Alana Evans, president of the Adult Performers Actors Guild, an International Entertainment Adult Union’s subsidiary.
The lead author of the bill, a Democratic assemblywoman from the Los Angeles named Cristina Garcia, announced that while she would remove the provision regarding the performers’ fingerprinting, the one related to their training would remain in place in order to ensure that "workers in this industry receive up-to-date training about reporting workplace injuries, including physical abuse, sexual abuse and sexual harassment", the media outlet adds.
A number of adult entertainment performers, however, argue that the bill should be scrapped in its entirety, with Mike Stabile, spokesman for an adult industry trade group called the Free Speech Coalition, noting that he isn’t even sure what the "end goal" of the bill actually is.