LOS ANGELES – AIDS Healthcare Foundation, an organization that claim to provide advocacy and treatment for those afflicted with HIV and AIDS, submitted a draft proposal for a statewide ballot initiative the group wants to put before California voters in 2016.
Although the group was successful at convincing Los Angeles County voters to approve a similar 2012 ballot initiative, three attempts to push a statewide bill through the legislature have failed. AHF’s new initiative would remove the state legislature from the equation by taking the issue directly to the voters.
In part, the legislature balked at passing a statewide law to mandate so-called barrier protection on all adult film sets, require licenses and permits, and impose strict recordkeeping requirements because such a law would be too expensive to enforce. Opponents of a statewide law point out that Los Angeles County’s ordinance reportedly cut adult film permits by 90 percent as producers left the area to film in friendlier climes. As a result, L.A. County lost more than $500 million in revenue during 2013 alone.
To address budgetary issues, AHF’s proposed ballot initiative imposes even more stringent terms on the adult entertainment industry and attempts to fund enforcement with steep fines for non-compliance and additional licenses and permits. Among the many new wrinkles in the draft is the potential to prosecute individuals only tangentially connected to adult film production, like service providers and office staff. The proposal also includes paying bounties to anyone who informs enforcement agencies about alleged noncompliance. In addition, if passed the ballot initiative would prevent producers outside California from shipping into the state products that do not conform to California law.
Parts of L.A. County’s similar ordinance, colloquially known as Measure B, were thrown out by a federal court as unconstitutional. The county spent millions more mounting a defense after AHF requested a judge force the county not to abandon the lawsuit. If approved by voters, AHF’s ballot initiative would exempt AHF from financial obligation should the measure pass muster with voters only to be attacked in court.
In a statement distributed to the media on Monday, AHF averred initial polling of 1,158 Californians indicated 71 percent would vote for the ballot initiative.
“Given the probability of strong support from California voters, we are confident that this no-nonsense workplace safety measure will become the law of the land, providing much-needed additional protection to California workers,” said AHF President Michael Weinstein. “We sadly just witnessed another HIV infection directly tied to the adult industry this fall—an outcome that consistent and correct condom use could have prevented.”
The infection to which Weinstein referred may have taken place during a gay adult film shoot in Nevada, which does not mandate condom usage.
Adult industry trade group Free Speech Coalition already is gearing up to challenge AHF’s ballot initiative.
“The act would result in an effective criminalization of the adult industry,” FSC Chief Executive Officer Diane Duke said. “This is not regulation; this is Prohibition.
“The act would destroy the industry as we know it, drive the existing producers underground and eliminate hard-fought performer protections,” Duke continued. “Performers should always have the right to use a condom, but AHF’s conservative morality should not be forced on [performers] under penalty of law. Performers should have control over their bodies, not the government and certainly not Michael Weinstein.”
