SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Legislature has just published the amendments drafted by Assemblymember Cristina Gonzalez to the controversial AB2389, known as the "Sex Worker Permit" bill.
AB2389 would require all "adult performers" to register their personal information with the State and receive mandatory training — including "human trafficking" education — in order to perform in adult content (whether studio shoots or self-produced), feature dance in clubs or perform in cam shows.
The amended bill was published on the official California Legislative Information website sometime between last night and this morning.
The biggest change between the bill as originally submitted, and the amended version is the removal of the entire introductory section, which made overly broad, unsupported claims and generalizations.
The amended bill removes several puzzling assertions, including: "There are hundreds of thousands of adult entertainers currently working in the United States," "All adult entertainment workers are now classified as employees in the State of California as determined by Assembly Bill 5 with other states now following closely behind," "Significant criminal activity has historically and regularly occurred" in adult entertainment, and "depression and suicide rates have risen."
This language, XBIZ reported last week, was drafted by a single retired performer, who goes by both her legal name Amanda Gullesserian and her former performer name "Phyllisha Anne," and serves as secretary and spokesperson for the International Entertainment Adult Union (IEAU).
IEAU is the "mother union" of the Adult Performers Actors Guild (APAG), whose President, Alana Evans, has led the fight against AB2389.
According to Evans, Phyllisha Anne did not consult APAG or the IEAU board before forwarding that language to Assemblyperson Garcia, who used it as the basis of the version of AB2389 she introduced last week.
After considerable criticism from labor groups and virtually every major adult industry stakeholder, the IEAU released a statement last week apologizing to the industry for their role in drafting AB2389.
LiveScan Is Out, More "Human Trafficking" Language Is In
Besides the removal of the controversial, Phyllisha Anne-drafted introductory language, other changes include:
- Replacing the requirement for the vaguely defined "adult performers" to "have a valid business license" with a new requirement to "[receive] a certificate of training completion regarding their employment rights, as specified"
- Replacing the authority of the "business license issuing authorities" to enforce the "training and record-keeping requirements" with a loosely defined "enforcement authority"
- Removing the mention to "additional licensing […] for local authorities" but keeping the need for additional "enforcement"
- Removing the requirement to obtain "a valid business license or permit from the local business license issuing authority," but keeping the requirement to obtain a "certificate of training completion issued by the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement"
- Removing the requirement that "each adult entertainer or performer shall keep a copy of the certificate of training completion issued and shall present it to the local business license issuing authority or the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement upon demand"
- Removing the requirement for "each adult entertainer or performer [to] obtain a LiveScan fingerprinting as part of completing the initial training"
- Clarifying that nine, not 10, members of a committee are to be paid by the State of California to draft the new training curriculum for the "Sex Worker Licence." The amended version, however, retains vague language about this Governor-appointed committee, which would include two members "with adult film experience" — it is unclear how this would be determined, or whether it is from performing, production, agency or studio sides, or how the two spots would account for gender, cultural and sexual orientation diversity — and one "licensed therapist," which could potentially include anyone who believes in highly stigmatizing notions like "porn addiction," "all porn is human trafficking," or "no woman can consent to sex work"
- Adding to the training curriculum guidelines an item on "the risk of sexually transmitted infection and how to avoid it"
- Replacing language referring to "the exploitation of minors" with the vague, more War On Porn-approved "human trafficking." The amended guidelines still include an obligatory nod to "the risk of human trafficking and how to report suspected human trafficking" module
"Human Traffic" panics are one of the most controversial stigmatizing topics used by well-funded, religiously inspired War On Porn activists.
The office of Assemblyperson Garcia could not comment to XBIZ whether such training is mandated to other California industries with higher recorded instances of actual human traffic, like the restaurant, agricultural or garment industries.
"I know we mandate it for hotel workers," Garcia's spokesperson told XBIZ, referring not to legislation to protect the workers, but to a controversial, religiously inspired lobby campaign to turn hotel workers into amateur "human trafficking" detectives.
Confusion Over Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez's Co-Sponsorship of AB 2389
Last week's version of the bill was co-sponsored by her fellow Democrat Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez, already a controversial figure in the adult community over her championship of the problematic AB5 "Gig Worker Bill."
Gonzalez's office released the following statement to XBIZ last week:
In regards to Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia’s legislation, Assemblywoman Gonzalez did not draft that bill and is not the author.
The idea was brought to our office by IEAU and from the description, the Assemblywoman said she generally agreed adult entertainers should have rights and know their rights.
Given that our legislative package was already determined, we could not carry the bill but out of respect for the women who were working on it, the Assemblywoman said she would show our support by signing on as a co-author.
Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia is the author, and all questions should actually be directed towards her. We understand the legislation is a work-in-progress.
Nonetheless, given its current language we are going to remove our support and Assemblywoman Gonzalez’s name from the bill.
Last week, XBIZ spoke to Assemblywoman's Garcia's office, which would not confirm or deny whether the amended version would have Gonzalez' name on it.
Gonzalez's rep confirmed to XBIZ yestersday that the Assemblywoman "does not support the language of AB2389 as it currently stands" and that "she has requested her name to be removed as joint author as a result."
The amended version published today still has the names of both cosponsors, Garcia and Gonzalez.
