BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
AB 1576 (Hall) - Occupational Safety and Health: Adult Films
Amended: June 18, 2014 Policy Vote: L&IR 3-1
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: August 4, 2014
Consultant: Robert Ingenito
This bill may meet the criteria for referral to the Suspense
File.
Bill Summary: AB 1576 would require additional documentation of
compliance from adult film employers with respect to the
bloodborne pathogen standard.
Fiscal Impact:
The Department of Industrial Relations indicates that it
could incur one-time costs of up to $150,000 (special
funds) to the extent additional rulemaking is necessary.
The Department of Public Health (DPH) indicates that
costs to develop recommendations regarding test
requirements would be minor and absorbable.
Background: DIR's Division of Occupational Safety and Health
(DOSH) is tasked with ensuring the health and safety of
employees in the State. This authority extends to nearly every
place of employment. Specifically, current law provides that if,
upon inspection or investigation, DOSH believes that an employer
has violated any standard, rule, order, or regulation
established for workplace safety, DOSH must issue a citation to
the employer. Each citation shall be in writing and shall
describe with particularity the nature of the violation,
including a reference to the provision of the code, standard,
rule, regulation, or order alleged to have been violated. In
addition, the citation shall fix a reasonable time for the
abatement of the alleged violation.
Current law also requires all employers create a written Injury
and Illness Prevention Plan (IIPP) which must include, but is
not limited to, all of the following: (1) Identification of the
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person or persons responsible for implementing the program; (2)
The employer's system for identifying and evaluating workplace
hazards, including scheduled periodic inspections to identify
unsafe conditions and work practices; (3) The employer's methods
and procedures for correcting unsafe or unhealthy conditions and
work practices in a timely manner; (4) An occupational health
and safety training program designed to instruct employees in
general safe and healthy work practices and to provide specific
instruction with respect to hazards specific to each employee's
job assignment; and (5) The employer's system for communicating
with employees on occupational health and safety matters,
including provisions designed to encourage employees to inform
the employer of hazards at the worksite without fear of
reprisal. Current law further requires employers to document all
steps taken to implement and maintain the IIPP.
Like many industries, the adult film industry has certain unique
occupational health hazards. One of the most significant is
bloodborne pathogens, which are pathogens present in blood and
other bodily excretions/secretions, and can cause disease in
humans. Bloodborne pathogens include Hepatitis A, B, and C,
herpes, gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, human papilloma virus
(HPV), and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
Current regulations (8 CCR § 5193) create a Bloodborne Pathogen
standard, which applies to all occupational exposure to blood or
other potentially infectious materials. The Bloodborne Pathogen
standard requires an exposure control plan as a part of an IIPP,
as well as engineering and work practice controls that remove
the bloodborne pathogen from the workplace and lower the
likelihood of bloodborne pathogen exposure in the workplace.
The Bloodborne Pathogen standard applies to all industries,
except construction. Thus, the standard already applies to the
adult film industry.
In 2009, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) submitted a
petition to the OSHA Standards Board seeking an amendment to the
Bloodborne Pathogen standard specific to the adult film
industry. In its petition, AHF proposed the standard be amended
to add a new subsection to clarify required protections for
workers in the adult film industry who are exposed to bloodborne
pathogens and sexually transmitted diseases. In June 2011, the
OSHA Standards Board circulated draft language. In October 2013,
the OSHA Standards Board released a revised drft
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Proposed Law: This bill would do the following:
1) Define an "adult film" as any commercial film, video,
multimedia, or other recorded representation made or
distributed for financial gain during the production of
which performers actually engage in sexual intercourse,
including oral, vaginal, or anal penetration.
2) Require that an adult film employer's exposure control
plan, as set out in the Bloodborne Pathogen standard, also
documents the following:
That each time an employee performing in an adult
film used personal protective equipment (such as a
condom) to protect the employee from exposure to
bloodborne pathogens.
That each employee performing in an adult film was
tested for sexually transmitted infections, according to
the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention and the State Department of Public Health
current at the time the testing takes place, not more
than 14 days prior to filming any scene;
That the employee engaged in vaginal or anal
intercourse consented to disclosing to the Division of
Occupational Safety and Health that the employee was the
subject of a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) test, and
that the employer paid for the test; and
Any additional information as required by the
Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
Related Legislation: AB 332 (Hall) of 2013 required employers
engaged in the production of adult films to adopt specified
practices and procedures related to protection from sexually
transmitted diseases, including language on the use of condoms
and protective barriers. AB 332 was held under submission by
the Assembly Committee on Appropriations.
Staff Comments: DIR is currently working on draft regulations to
address safety in the adult film industry; however, the
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department indicates that the requirements of this bill are
sufficiently different, such that additional staff time would be
required to change the course of the current rulemaking.
Any local government costs resulting from the mandate in this
measure are not state-reimbursable because the mandate only
involves the definition of a crime or the penalty for conviction
of a crime.