BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair A
2011-2012 Regular Session B
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AB 1660 (Campos) 0
As Amended June 21, 2012
Hearing date: July 3, 2012
Labor Code
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SEX OFFENDER REGISTRANTS:
CHILD ARTISTS
HISTORY
Source: BizParentz
Prior Legislation: AB 2072 (Montanez) - Held in Senate
Appropriations Committee, 2006
Support: Association of Talent Agents; Motion Picture
Association of America, Inc.; Screen Actors Guild - American
Federation of Television and Radio Artists (The following
supporters are indicated in the analysis of the Senate Labor and
Industrial Relations Committee: Brilliant Talent
Management; Children in Film.com; Hollywood Mom Blog; Lane
Management Group; Leonian Pictures;Los Angeles City Attorney's
Office; Mothers Against Sexual Predators; Numerous Individuals;
Pafundi Law Firm, APC; Peace Officers Research Association of
California; Stage Moms Group; Talent Managers Association)
Opposition:(The following opponents are indicated in the
analysis of the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee:
California Reform Sex Offender Laws)
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Assembly Floor Vote: Ayes 78 - Noes 0
KEY ISSUE
SHOULD PERSONS WHO ARE REQUIRED TO REGISTERED AS A SEX OFFENDER
BE PROHIBITED FROM BEING ELIGIBLE FOR A "CHILD PERFORMER
SERVICES PERMIT," AS SPECIFIED?
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to require the Labor Commissioner to
implement a "Child Performer Services Permit" process and
background check for persons who wish to represent or provide
services to artists who are minors and, with respect to this
Committee, as part of that process provide the following: 1)
require criminal background checks for persons applying for this
permit, and 2) prohibit persons who are required to register as
sex offenders from representing or providing specified services
to any artist who is a minor, as specified.
Current law generally requires persons convicted of enumerated
sex offenses to register within five working days of coming into
a city or county, with specified law enforcement officials in
the city, county or city and county where he or she is
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domiciled, as specified.<1> (Penal Code § 290.)
Current law provides that no person who is required to register
as a sex offender because of a conviction for a crime where the
victim was a minor under 16 years of age shall be an employer,
employee, or independent contractor, or act as a volunteer with
any person, group, or organization in a capacity in which the
registrant would be working directly and in an unaccompanied
setting with minor children<2> on more than an incidental and
occasional basis or have supervision or disciplinary power over
minor children. This subdivision shall not apply to a business
owner or an independent contractor who does not work directly in
an unaccompanied setting with minors. (Penal Code § 290.95(c).)
Current law provides that every person required to register as a
sex offender who applies for or accepts a position as an
employee or volunteer with any person, group, or organization
where the registrant would be working directly and in an
unaccompanied setting with minor children on more than an
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<1> Penal Code section 290(b) provides: "Every person described
in subdivision (c) for the rest of his or her life while
residing in, or, if he or she has no residence, while located
within California, or while attending school or working in
California, as described in section 290.002 and 290.01, shall be
required to register with the chief of police of the city in
which he or she is residing, or if he or she has no residence,
is located, or the sheriff of the county if he or she is
residing, or if he or she has no residence, is located, in an
unincorporated area or city that has no police department, and,
additionally, with the chief of police of a campus of the
University of California, the California State University, or
community college if he or she is residing, or if he or she has
no residence, is located upon the campus or in any of its
facilities, within five working days of coming into, or changing
his or her residence or location within, any city, county, or
city and county, or campus in which he or she temporarily
resides, or, if he or she has no residence, is located."
<2> For purposes of this section, "working directly and in an
unaccompanied setting" includes, but is not limited to,
providing goods or services to minors.
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incidental and occasional basis or have supervision or
disciplinary power over minor children, shall disclose his or
her status as a registrant, upon application or acceptance of a
position, to that person, group, or organization. (Penal Code §
290.95(a).)
Current law provides that every person required to register as a
sex offender who applies for or accepts a position as an
employee or volunteer with any person, group, or organization
where the applicant would be working directly and in an
accompanied setting with minor children, and the applicant's
work would require him or her to touch the minor children on
more than an incidental basis, shall disclose his or her status
as a registrant, upon application or acceptance of the position,
to that person, group, or organization. (Penal Code §
290.95(b).)
This bill would establish a permitting process conducted by the
Labor Commissioner for persons who wish to represent or provide
services to artists who are minors, with specified requirements
and provisions. Two provisions in this bill specifically fall
within the jurisdiction of this Committee.
This bill would prohibit persons required to register as sex
offenders from representing or providing specified services to
any artist who is a minor under the age of 18. "Artist" under
this bill would mean "a person who is or seeks to become an
actor, actress, model, extra, radio artist, musical artist,
musical organization, director, musical director, writer,
cinematographer, composer, lyricist, arranger, or other person
rendering professional services in motion picture, theatrical,
radio, television, Internet, print media, or other entertainment
enterprises or technologies." For purposes of this bill:
To "represent or provide specified services to" means
to provide, offer to provide, or advertise or
represent as providing, for a fee one or more of the
following services:
(A) Photography for use as an artist, including, but
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not limited to, still photography, digital
photography, and video and film services.
(B) Managing or directing the development or
advancement of the artist's career as an artist.
(C) 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.
(D) Public relations services or publicity, or both,
including arranging personal appearances, developing
and distributing press packets, managing fan mail,
designing and maintaining Internet Web sites, and
consulting on media relations.
(E) Instruction, evaluation, lessons, coaching,
seminars, workshops, or similar training as an artist,
including, but not limited to, acting, singing, dance,
voice, or similar instruction services.
(F) A camp for artists, which includes, but is not
limited to, a day camp or overnight camp in which any
portion of the camp includes any services described in
subparagraphs (A) to (E), inclusive.
This bill would require applicants for this permit to submit
fingerprints to the Labor Commissioner for the purposes of
obtaining information as to the existence and content of a
record of state or federal arrests and convictions, including
arrests for which the Department of Justice establishes that the
person is free on bail or on his or her recognizance pending
trial or appeal, and would require the Labor Commissioner to
submit fingerprint images and related information to the
Department of Justice for further review and dissemination, as
specified.
This bill would provide that a person who willfully violates any
of its provisions would be guilty of a misdemeanor, with each
violation punishable by a fine not exceeding $10,000, by
imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or by
both that fine and imprisonment.
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RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION
("ROCA")
In response to the unresolved prison capacity crisis, since
early 2007 it has been the policy of the chair of the Senate
Committee on Public Safety and the Senate President pro Tem to
hold legislative proposals which could further aggravate prison
overcrowding through new or expanded felony prosecutions. Under
the resulting policy known as "ROCA" (which stands for
"Receivership/Overcrowding Crisis Aggravation"), the Committee
has held measures which create a new felony, expand the scope or
penalty of an existing felony, or otherwise increase the
application of a felony in a manner which could exacerbate the
prison overcrowding crisis by expanding the availability or
length of prison terms (such as extending the statute of
limitations for felonies or constricting statutory parole
standards). In addition, proposed expansions to the
classification of felonies enacted last year by AB 109 (the 2011
Public Safety Realignment) which may be punishable in jail and
not prison (Penal Code section 1170(h)) would be subject to ROCA
because an offender's criminal record could make the offender
ineligible for jail and therefore subject to state prison.
Under these principles, ROCA has been applied as a
content-neutral, provisional measure necessary to ensure that
the Legislature does not erode progress towards reducing prison
overcrowding by passing legislation which could increase the
prison population. ROCA will continue until prison overcrowding
is resolved.
For the last several years, severe overcrowding in California's
prisons has been the focus of evolving and expensive litigation.
On June 30, 2005, in a class action lawsuit filed four years
earlier, the United States District Court for the Northern
District of California established a Receivership to take
control of the delivery of medical services to all California
state prisoners confined by the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation ("CDCR"). In December of 2006,
plaintiffs in two federal lawsuits against CDCR sought a
court-ordered limit on the prison population pursuant to the
federal Prison Litigation Reform Act. On January 12, 2010, a
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three-judge federal panel issued an order requiring California
to reduce its inmate population to 137.5 percent of design
capacity -- a reduction at that time of roughly 40,000 inmates
-- within two years. The court stayed implementation of its
ruling pending the state's appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
On May 23, 2011, the United States Supreme Court upheld the
decision of the three-judge panel in its entirety, giving
California two years from the date of its ruling to reduce its
prison population to 137.5 percent of design capacity, subject
to the right of the state to seek modifications in appropriate
circumstances. Design capacity is the number of inmates a
prison can house based on one inmate per cell, single-level
bunks in dormitories, and no beds in places not designed for
housing. Current design capacity in CDCR's 33 institutions is
79,650.
On January 6, 2012, CDCR announced that California had cut
prison overcrowding by more than 11,000 inmates over the last
six months, a reduction largely accomplished by the passage of
Assembly Bill 109. Under the prisoner-reduction order, the
inmate population in California's 33 prisons must be no more
than the following:
167 percent of design capacity by December 27, 2011
(133,016 inmates);
155 percent by June 27, 2012;
147 percent by December 27, 2012; and
137.5 percent by June 27, 2013.
This bill does not aggravate the prison overcrowding crisis
described above under ROCA.
COMMENTS
1. Stated Need for This Bill
The author states:
Existing law only applies to licensed talent agents,
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where it requires that applicants for the license
provide their business history and financial
information along with fingerprints and affidavits
from personal references. This bill would extend
similar requirements to others who also work with
children in entertainment.
AB 1660 would require any person who represents
artists who are minors and whose job requires them to
be unsupervised with children, to submit his or her
name and a fee to the Labor Commissioner to permit
screening of that individual to determine if he or she
is a registered sex offender. No person who is
identified as a sex offender under this procedure
would be permitted to represent artists who are
minors. It would exclude licensed talent agents, who
are already subject to regulation under the Talent
Agents Act, LC 1700, and studio teachers, who are
subject to the rigorous Teacher Credentialing
Standards of the Education Code.
This protection is needed because Hollywood is a
unique environment. The entertainment industry can be
a prime profession for pedophiles and child molesters
because it is a common practice for children to be in
the company of adults who are not their parents, have
photos taken by strangers in order to obtain work, and
befriend adults who can aid in their professional
growth. Child predators can easily work as
professional photographers, managers or talent agents
and use their job to lure unassuming children and
parents to trust them.
Sadly, recent news reports reveal the concerns about
pedophiles in the entertainment industry are not just
Hollywood sensationalism. Three Managers have been
arrested recently on child-abuse related offenses.
Although the majority of child managers, modeling and
acting agencies are legitimate, there are still
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loopholes within the law that make it very easy for a
predator to gain access to children under false
pretenses.
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2. Background: Employment and Volunteer Restrictions on
Registered Sex Offenders
As noted above, current law generally prohibits persons who have
committed sex crimes against children from working in positions
having direct, unsupervised contact with children. Persons
required to register as sex offenders who are not subject to
this prohibition generally must disclose their registration
status where they are working with or supervising children, as
specified. Registered sex offenders cannot work at community
care facilities, including child day care facilities (Health and
Safety Code § 1522), residential care facilities for the elderly
(Health and Safety Code 1568.09), public schools (e.g.,
Education Code § 44425) and certain recreational jobs (Public
Resource Code 5164). Existing law also requires public school
districts and private schools to conduct criminal record checks
of their teachers and administrators (Penal Code § 11145;
Education Code §§ 33190 and 44341). Under current law, school
districts cannot employ a person until the Department of Justice
completes a check of arrest and conviction information.
(Education Code §§ 44237, 45125 and 45125.1.) Existing law
additionally authorizes human resource agencies and employers to
request from the Department of Justice records of all
convictions or any arrest pending adjudication, involving sex,
drug, and violent offenses, as specified, of a person who
applies for a license, employment, or volunteer position, in
which he or she would have supervisory or disciplinary power
over a minor or any person under his or her care.
3. What This Bill Would Do
This bill would prohibit all persons required to register as a
sex offender from representing or providing specified services
to any artist in the entertainment industry, as specified above,
who is a minor under the age of 18. As explained above, current
law already would prohibit sex offender registrants from working
with minors in this context if their conviction offense was
against a minor under 16. This bill would impose a broader ban
- applicable to any sex offender registrant - for the permits
this bill proposes. In this way, the bill would impose a ban
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similar to some of those described in the preceding comment.
California's sex offender registration law generally imposes
lifetime registration on persons who have been convicted of a
wide range of sex offenses. These offenses can include
unimaginable sex crimes against young children, but also can
include, for example, persons who as teenagers were prosecuted
and convicted for consensual sex with a 13-year old girlfriend
20 or more years ago, or for indecent exposure 30 years ago
after an incident related to a bipolar disorder. Members may
wish to discuss the scope of the prohibition described by this
bill, and whether there would be value in tightening its
prohibition through the use of a "washout" period in addition
to the existing prohibition in current law.
4. Previous Policy Hearing
This bill was heard in the Senate Committee on Labor and
Industrial Relations on June 27, 2012, where it passed 5-0.
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