BILL NUMBER: SB 1687 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 288
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE AUGUST 24, 2004
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR AUGUST 24, 2004
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 9, 2004
PASSED THE SENATE APRIL 29, 2004
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 12, 2004
INTRODUCED BY Senator Murray
FEBRUARY 20, 2004
An act to amend Section 1701 of the Labor Code, relating to
employment.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1687, Murray. Advance-fee talent services.
Existing law regulates agreements for advance-fee talent services,
as defined, and includes the right to a refund of any advance fee
paid and the right to cancel any contract for advance-fee talent
services. Persons engaging in the business of advance-fee talent
services are required to provide a written disclosure to the artist,
file a bond with the Labor Commissioner, and maintain specified
records. Advance-fee talent services are prohibited from, among
other things, charging an artist for photographs or lessons. Under
existing law, any person who willfully violates any of these
provisions is guilty of a misdemeanor.
This bill would revise the definition of advance-fee talent
service to include a person who charges, attempts to charge, or
receives an advance fee from an artist for specified services, or for
the purchase of any other product or service, including, but not
limited to, creating or providing photographs or providing lessons,
coaching, or similar training, in order to obtain from or through the
advance-fee talent service one or more of the specified services.
The bill would expand the list of services specified for purposes of
this definition to include procuring, offering, promising, or
attempting to procure auditions for the artist. By expanding the
scope of an existing crime by making the crime applicable to a new
category of persons, the bill would impose a state-mandated local
program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 1701 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
1701. For purposes of this chapter, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(a) (1) "Advance fee" means any fee due from or paid by an artist
prior to the artist obtaining actual employment as an artist or prior
to the artist receiving actual earnings as an artist or that exceeds
the actual earnings received by the artist as an artist.
(2) "Advance fee" does not include reimbursements for
out-of-pocket costs actually incurred by the payee on behalf of the
artist for services rendered or goods provided to the artist by an
independent third party if all of the following conditions are met:
(A) The payee has no direct or indirect financial interest in the
third party.
(B) The payee does not accept any referral fee or other
consideration for referring the artist.
(C) The services rendered or goods provided for the out-of-pocket
costs are not represented to be, and are not, a condition for the
payee to register or list the artist with the payee.
(D) The payee maintains adequate records to establish that the
amount to be reimbursed was actually advanced or owed to a third
party and that the third party is not a person in which the payee has
a direct or indirect financial interest or from which the payee
receives any consideration for referring the artist.
(E) The burden of producing evidence to support a defense based
upon an exemption or an exception provided in this paragraph is upon
the person claiming it.
(b) "Advance-fee talent service" means a person who charges,
attempts to charge, or receives an advance fee from an artist for one
or more of the following, or for the purchase of any other product
or service, including, but not limited to, those described in
subdivisions (e) to (i), inclusive, of Section 1701.12, in order to
obtain from or through the service one or more of the following:
(1) Procuring, offering, promising, or attempting to procure
employment, engagements, or auditions for the artist.
(2) Managing or directing the development or advancement of the
artist's career as an artist.
(3) Career counseling, career consulting, vocational guidance,
aptitude testing, evaluation, or planning, in each case relating to
the preparation of the artist for employment as an artist.
(c) "Artist" or "artists" means persons who seek to become or are
actors or actresses rendering services on the legitimate stage or in
the production of motion pictures, radio artists, musical artists,
musical organizations, directors of legitimate stage, motion picture
and radio productions, musical directors, writers, cinematographers,
composers, lyricists, arrangers, models, extras, and other artists or
persons rendering professional services in motion picture,
theatrical, radio, television, and other entertainment enterprises.
(d) "Fee" means any money or other valuable consideration paid or
promised to be paid by or for an artist for services rendered or to
be rendered by any person conducting the business of an advance-fee
talent service.
(e) "Person" means any individual, company, society, firm,
partnership, association, corporation, limited liability company,
trust, or other organization.
SEC. 2. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.