BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2242
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Date of Hearing: April 7, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT
Sandre Swanson, Chair
AB 2242 (Davis) - As Amended: March 25, 2010
SUBJECT : Talent agencies: employment inquires.
SUMMARY :
1)Requires an application for a talent agency license to contain
a signature from the applicant attesting they are familiar
with the legally permissible inquiries that an employer may
make of employees and applicants for employment.
2)Allows the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) to make
available on its Internet Website or to provide the most
current information regarding legally permissible inquiries by
an employer, published by the Department of Fair Employment
and Housing (DFEH), available to applicants of talent agency
licenses, as specified.
EXISTING LAW
1)Protects and safeguards the right and opportunity of all
persons to seek, obtain and hold employment without
discrimination or abridgement on account of race, religious
creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability,
mental disability, medical condition, marital status, sex,
age, or sexual orientation, as specified.
2)Provides that no person shall engage in or carry on the
occupation of a talent agent or agency without first obtaining
a license from the Labor Commissioner (LC).
3)States it is unlawful for any talent agency licensee to refuse
to represent any artist on account of the artist's race,
color, creed, sex, national origin, religion or handicap.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : According to the author's statement, in Hollywood,
talent agents act as the intermediaries between the buyers and
sellers of talent. The talent agent's job is to deliver
artists, such as actors, writers, directors, to talent buyers,
AB 2242
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usually television and movie producers. Legally talent agents
licensed by the LC are the only persons who can procure
employment for an artist. The California Talent Agency Act
(TAA) was designed for the benefit and protection of artists
because of this strong reliance upon their agents for
employment.
California's laws governing agents evolved in response to
unscrupulous practices of early agents who occasionally sent
artists to dangerous or unhealthy locations, sent minors to
places where alcohol was sold and consumed, and women to houses
of prostitution or split fees with owners or managers of the
various venues that booked the artists.
The author states one example of the protections for artists
contained in the TAA is Labor Code section 1700.47 which
establishes "It shall be unlawful for any licensee to refuse to
represent any artists on account of that artist's race, color,
creed, sex, national origin, religion, or handicap." This
section was added to "provide protection to the artist against
breaches of these fundamental civil rights," according to the
1986 Report of the California Entertainment Commission .
Recently, a group of 165 TV writers over the age of 40 settled a
decade old age discrimination lawsuit against 24 networks,
production studios and talent agencies. The age discrimination
case was filed by the writers over age 40 in 2000, alleging they
were victims of systematic age discrimination by talent agents
who aided and abetted networks and studios by refusing to
represent and refer older writers for work at the studios.
Finally, the author believes that in order to prevent future
lawsuits this bill would require talent agent license applicants
to be familiar with permissible employment inquiries under the
law. This requirement is consistent with the agents existing
duty under the law and it will keep both the agent and the
talent out of harms way.
The Association of Talent Agents is opposed to this bill. They
state that the fundamental problem with AB 2242 is that it seeks
to obligate talent agents, in order to obtain a license, to
stand in the shoes of the employers. This bill charges talent
agents with the responsibility of understanding and presumably
acting on the legal standards governing employers, talent agents
are not employers of their clients. The Association of Talent
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Agents also argue that talent agencies, licensed by the LC, must
comply with the Talent Agencies Act (TAA) and DFEH provisions
which prohibit discrimination. Additionally, they state that
the union and guild "Agency Regulations" entered into with
talent agents also prohibits discrimination stating: "The
parties reaffirm their policy of non-discrimination with respect
to race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, sexual
orientation, disability or marital status." They believe this
bill will add confusion to the industry since there are already
sufficient legal protections in place to achieve the goal of AB
2242.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file.
Opposition
Association of Talent Agents
Analysis Prepared by : Lorie Erickson / L. & E. / (916)
319-2091