Los Angeles- The L.A. City Attorney has delivered his report on whether the Council can force FilmLA, Inc., the quasi-governmental body that issues filming permits in the city, to deny such permits to adult companies that don't use condoms for sex scenes—and as AVN reported in December, the answer is "yes ... but they probably won't."
According to an www.avn.com report, the City Attorney's report also notes that the issue was taken up by the state assembly in 2004. AB 2798, introduced by then-Assemblymember Tim Leslie, a conservative, would have required all performers, prior to engaging in filming a sex scene, to have been tested for STDs at the company's expense, and if found to be positive for STD infection, to be barred from filming until receiving certification from a doctor that the infection has passed.
It also would have created civil liability for any company or performer who violated the testing protocol and caused damage to another person because of such violation. The bill died in the assembly's health and safety committee in November, 2004.
What it all boils down to is, under the law, enforcement of the state health code is entirely in the hands of Cal/OSHA and the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (which most recently met on March 17), and that any attempt by the city or county to assert authority over health-related issues would be ruled unenforceable.
So tt's up to Cal/OSHA to enforce its ideas of occupational health and safety on adult movie sets, and any attempt that the City of Los Angeles might make to assume that authority, even to the extent of attempting to rewrite the requirements for the issuance of filming permits, would be overstepping its legal authority.
