from www.thecamarilloacorn.com – The Camarillo City Council passed a 45-day moratorium last week on adult film industry activities, including holding special events in city limits and obtaining film permits to produce pornographic films in Camarillo.

The council considered what city officials called “an urgency ordinance” during its March 27 meeting after several adult film companies called the city to ask about film permits or setting up a production studio in Camarillo according to City Attorney Brian Pierik.

The City Council unanimously adopted a moratorium that stops the city from issuing new business permits, conditional use permits, special event permits or film permits to the adult film industry.

A staff report said the industry’s interest in Camarillo grew after Los Angeles passed a condom use ordinance, called Measure B, which requires adult film actors to use condoms and other barriers while filming.

Some parts of the San Fernando Valley—known as the hub of the adult entertainment industry—are included within Los Angeles city limits.

The condom law was spearheaded by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a Los Angeles-based group that rallied for years to require condom use on film shoots to protect the health of porn performers, who could be exposed to HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

The Los Angeles City Council passed its ordinance in January 2012. It requires producers to make their actors use condoms on set. The ordinance doesn’t apply to films produced on a soundstage or studio back lot.

Adult film companies attempted to move production north to Simi Valley until that city passed its own condom use ordinance last year. As a consequence, Camarillo city officials said, the porn industry was pushed further north to their city, which does not have a condom use ordinance in place.

Assistant City Attorney Don Davis said that there is no history of commercial porn movies filmed within the city, according to what’s been stated on the permit applications of film companies.

“We are not suddenly the San Fernando Valley of Ventura County,” Davis said “We’re just trying to understand more about what the industry is trying to do here, and there are concerns that maybe those businesses are looking to relocate (to Camarillo).”

Even though some adult film companies asked about permits, it doesn’t mean the entire industry will move to Camarillo, said Jeffrey J. Douglas, a lawyer with Canoga Park-based Free Speech Coalition, the adult film industry’s trade association.

“I don’t believe there’s a particular community that’s being looked at given the enormous amount of resources involved in relocating a production company,” Douglas said.

Although the industry may use other cities to film, he said, it will stay in Los Angeles because of those extensive resources, such as filming equipment, qualified editors, cameramen and actors in the area.

Douglas said he doesn’t understand why cities want to regulate porn actors when companies require actors to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases once or twice a month. He said people should focus more on Hollywood, where stuntmen and actors are injured or killed on set.

“A stuntman was paralyzed during the ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ movie, another was killed during ‘Expendables 2,’ and those kinds of things are utterly routine in Hollywood, and nobody says, ‘Look, you can’t blow people up anymore,’ yet there’s a zero-risk standard in porn,” Douglas said.

Davis said the city believes it’s a public health issue, and the memorandum gives officials a chance to consider additional laws, such as a condom use ordinance, to discourage film movies from being shot in Camarillo.

The attorney said city staff will consult with neighboring cities to see how they dealt with the issue and will likely craft its own law after determining what works best for the city.

“We have a lot of questions because a lot of issues come up,” Davis said. “If we’re going to enforce it, who’s going to do it? Would (the city) hire a contractor or health professional, or should police handle this? It takes time to review all these things.”

Staff will bring recommendations back to the City Council in April or May, and the council may look at possible ordinances or extend the moratorium again.