LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday plans to hear discussion on proposed health permit fees for adult film shoots.
The public hearing considering an adoption of a resolution establishing new permit fees was originally scheduled last month; however, supervisors elected to delay discussion after the Free Speech Coalition and individual adult industry stakeholders complained that the agenda item was only known within days of the scheduled July 25 hearing.
Earlier this week, the Board of Supervisors placed the Measure B permit fees agenda item on the calendar for Tuesday despite additional efforts to postpone the hearing.
On Friday, a county official confirmed to XBIZ that the agenda item is still on the calendar for Tuesday's weekly meeting.
Developed by the county’s Department of Public Health, the fee structure on the table would require adult film producers to pay $1,672 for a film permit, with subsequent biennial renewal.
The proposal also would allow charges of $65 per hour for re-inspections. (Re-inspections occur to ensure corrective measures have been put into place after noncompliance has been found in initial inspections.)
If the Board of Supervisors approves the fee structure on Tuesday, the plan would likely go into effect within a month.
The proposed fee structure comes after years of legal wrangling after the passage of Measure B, Los Angeles County’s Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act that was sponsored by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, in 2012.
Measure B imposes a permitting system that requires producers to obtain a newly designated public health permit for a fee before beginning production on an adult film. The law also makes producers demonstrate that employees have completed a county-approved training program concerning bloodborne pathogens.
In addition, the law requires the display of a permit while filming, forces performers to use condoms during any acts of vaginal or anal sex and comply with § 5193 of the state code of regulations in regards to occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens on film sets.
Further, producers must post a notice at the film site that the use of condoms is required.
Last month, the FSC said that there were many questions that the Department of Public Health left unanswered in its fee structure proposal.
“Who would be expected to pull these permits? Most shoots in L.A. County are now webcam based, and performer-owned and produced, as most large studios moved production outside the county or state,” the FSC said in a letter to the board last month.
“Would single webcam performers, or married couples, be expected to pay for a permit? Since these permit fees are based on enforcement, while the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that the enforcement as proposed in the legislation is unconstitutional and permits must be revenue neutral, how were the permit fees calculated?
“Since the county does not know the number of the shoots in L.A. County, how were permit fees calculated? In the analysis, the department projects that one in four shoots will feature a complaint. How was this number determined?"
The weekly Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday begins at 9:30 a.m. at the Hall of Administration, 500 W. Temple St., Los Angeles 90012.
