BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2539
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 20, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
2539 (Levine) - As Amended March 30, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill requires the Occupational Safety and Health Standards
Board (Standards Board) to adopt an occupational safety and
health standard for models and sets forth other workplace
requirements for models and modeling agencies. Specifically,
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this bill:
1)Prohibits a person from engaging in or carrying on the
occupation of a modeling agency without first obtaining a
license under existing law related to talent agencies.
2)Classifies a model as an employee of the person for whom the
model's services are directly provided.
3)Requires the Standards Board, in consultation with accredited
specialists in the prevention and treatment of eating
disorders, to adopt an occupational safety and health standard
for models no later than December 1, 2017. Requires this
standard to be operative September 1, 2018 and fully complied
with by December 31, 2018.
4)Requires the standard to address issues including, but not
limited to: (1) protection of the model's rights to health
care privacy under federal law and all other provisions of
law; (2) workplace safety, especially for minors, including
protection from sexual exploitation and sexual predators; and
(3) prevention and treatment of eating disorders.
5)Provides that this bill shall not apply to persons covered
under certain wage orders regulating the broadcasting industry
and the motion picture industry.
6)Defines "model" to mean an artist covered under Wage Order 4
of the Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) who, in the course
of his or her occupation, performs modeling services for, or
who consents to the transfer of his or her legal right to the
use of his or her name, portrait, picture or image for
advertising purposes of trade directly to, a retail store, a
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manufacturer, an advertising agency, a photographer, a
publishing company, or a modeling agency.
7)Defines "modeling services" to mean the appearance by a model
in photographic sessions or the engagement of model in runway,
live, filmed, or taped performances requiring him or her to
pose, provide an example or standard of artistic expression,
or to be a representation to show the construction or
appearance of some thing or place for purposes of display or
advertising.
8)Defines a "modeling agency" as a person that facilitates an
employment opportunity for a model and that holds a valid
license under existing law related to talent agencies
FISCAL EFFECT:
Administrative costs of approximately $420,000 to $450,000
(Labor Enforcement and Compliance Fund) for the Division of
Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) and Cal/OSHA to develop
health and safety standards and to process additional wage
claims. These estimates reflect anticipated workload for the
first two years of implementation. Ongoing costs for DLSE are
estimated to be approximately $112,000 annually.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, this bill protects the
health and well-being of models and will also change the
messages the fashion industry sends to society about health
and beauty. This bill provides that models are employees and
receive all worker protections of employees. The bill also
requires the adoption of health guidelines for models.
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2)Support. According to the Model Alliance, supporters of the
bill, eating disorders are widespread in the fashion industry
and are too often dismissed or overlooked. The bill requires
the OSHA Standards Board, in consultation with accredited
specialists in the prevention and treatment of eating
disorders, to adopt an occupational safety and health standard
for models.
The supporters of this bill also state that many (but not all)
modeling agencies are licensed as talent agencies under
existing law, affording models the protections that apply to
talent agencies, such as registration with the Labor
Commissioner and other requirements. This bill would prohibit
a person from engaging in or carrying on the occupation of a
modeling agency without first procuring a license under the
existing law related to talent agencies. Supporters believe
that requiring modeling agencies to be licensed and regulated
as talent agencies increases the level of financial
transparency and accountability in the modeling industry, and
protect models from sexual and financial exploitation.
3)Opposition. The Association of Talent Agents (ATA) opposes
this bill and state it is unworkable. They state the bill is
redundant because it seeks to require what is already required
- that modeling agencies engaged in the occupation of
procuring or attempting to procure employment for "artists"
services (including models) be licensed by the Labor
Commissioner. They note that the Labor Commissioner has issued
rulings on the fact that models are artists covered under the
Talent Agents Act (TAA), and therefore the bill serves no
discernable purpose.
The ATA also raises concerns over statutorily mandating models
as employees. They argue that the law is clear that the
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classification of a worker as either an employee or an
independent contractor depends, among other things, on the
circumstances of the work performed and the degree of control
over the worker. Because the bill requires models to be
classified as employees in every case regardless of the
circumstances of the particular job, ATA argues the bill does
not reflect the realities of the work environment and unfairly
prejudices models who exhibit control over their work and
structure their business as independent contractors.
The ATA also opposes the proposed development of an OSHA
workplace health and safety standard for models. They are
concerned that the bill provides no definition for what
constitutes "healthy" and discourages diversity among body
shapes within the industry, with respect to both slender and
plus-size models. ATA also expresses concern that the
development of such a standard would impose duties upon the
modeling agencies, such as making sure that each model it
represents has met the standard and is healthy to perform
modeling services.
Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081