Op-Ed: How Much Will Porn REALLY Commit to Staying in CA?

PORN VALLEY—Okay; so the California Assembly put its seal of approval on Assemblyman Isadore Hall III's unconstitutional mandatory "barrier protections" bill, AB 1576, but despite the scare headlines in the national media that followed that action, the bill still has a ways to go before becoming law—most notably, making it out of the California Senate's Labor & Industrial Relations Committee, which will consider the bill at its June 25 hearing. Now, from what we've heard around the industry, nobody's all that hot on moving to Nevada. For the more established production companies, it'd be a real pain in the ass. For one thing, many of them own the buildings in which their businesses do business, and the real estate market for commercial properties isn't exactly jumping with buyers these days, unless you're willing to sell at below-market prices. For another, many of those business owners, their employees and the majority of the performers they use live in the Los Angeles area, and some of them even own homes here—and again, even though residential property values are climbing again, selling a home for what it's worth is still a daunting task, and one which, all else being equal, most people who are happy in their homes would not want to undertake. Of course, even with those drawbacks, if filming adult movies in California becomes unprofitable due to the requirement that performers wear condoms (and, if the law were precisely followed, rubber gloves, dental dams, goggles and face shields), such moves will take place—but who needs that expense if there's a way to avoid it? And let's talk about Nevada for a moment. Anyone ever been there in the summer? For the period June through August, the average daily temperature is between 99 and 104 degrees, with September clocking in at 94. And winters, especially in the Las Vegas area, can be fierce. They actually get snow sometimes, and the lows in December and January average around 37. Hence, for at least half the year, producers can forget about shooting sex scenes outdoors—and those used to L.A.'s generally moderate climate will be in for a shock if they take up residence there. But again, if AB 1576 forces us to relocate, most companies will brave the elements—but they won't be happy about it. Now, consider this: According to AIDS Healthcare Foundation's 2012 tax returns and supporting documentation, the organization spent $1.7 MILLION on lobbying, mostly to get Measure B passed, but also partly to work on getting the city to set up its own health department—an all-too-real possibility now that its ballot campaign has assured that the creation of such a department will be voted on in the November election. And considering by what margin Measure B passed, I'm not at all sure we can count on Los Angeles voters to see through AHF's ruse of creating a department that will award them all the healthcare contracts the LA County Supervisors were too wise to give to them. Incidentally, those same tax documents show that AHF president Michael Weinstein got $400,000 in salary and other compensation in 2012, while several of his employees made about $200K each. I'd hate to tell you how sorry Diane Duke's salary as CEO of Free Speech looks compared to that! And I guarantee you, she does one hell of a lot more work for her money than Weinstein does for his. Also, note that that $1.7 million in lobbying expenses was for 2012. We have no idea how much AHF spent lobbying last year and this for AB 1576 (and AB 332 and AB 640), though it probably couldn't hurt to check Isadore Hall's campaign committee's bank accounts for a clue. AB 1576 may be no more constitutional than is Measure B, as was so eloquently analyzed by Jason Shachner in his article (.pdf) for the journal Health-Matrix, titled "Unwrapped: How the Los Angeles County Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act’s Condom Mandate Hurts Performers & Violates the First Amendment," but unconstitutionality has often failed to stop bills from being passed before, and the adult industry, considering its infamy among the general populace, is by no means assured of defeating the bill, should it be passed, in court. After all, the "court of last resort" thinks corporations are people and that dropping a couple of million to put a favored candidate into office won't lead to the sort of quid pro quos that are the very definition of "corruption." So: the point is, when it comes to healthcare in the adult industry and the various challenges to its effectiveness that have been mounted by AIDS Healthcare, starting with the CalOSHA hearings on AHF's condom petition that began in 2009 up to its present sponsorship of AB 1576, the industry has been wildly outspent by AHF at every turn, whether for pro-condom billboards around town, signature gatherers for its various ballot measures, press conferences that feature HIV-positive performers that are either on AHF's payroll or whose retroviral treatment is being paid for by AHF, lawyers to defend Measure B, spokespeople to hammer AHF's positions before the legislature—the list just goes on and on. And it's not as if the adult industry is broke, even though revenues have shrunk due to the recession—and the rampant piracy that recession inspired—and still are a long way from recovery. But considering what's at stake, production companies, whether video or web-based, should be throwing as much money as they can at Free Speech Coalition's lobbying efforts to keep adult content production legal and profitable in California—and as I sit here today, the industry leaders' response to this menace that threatens to put them out of business has been laughably poor—and sad. We've got exactly three weeks to do our best to convince the California Senate, and particularly the members of the Senate's Labor & Industrial Relations Committee, that over (let's say) the next decade, California will lose several billion dollars in income taxes, business taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, permit fees and all the other dollars that the adult industry either pays to the state or brings into the state, while in no way assuring that performers will never again catch STDs. And guess what? It takes MONEY to do that! Money to pay lobbyists to promote our position. Money to contribute to legislators' campaign funds and favorite causes. Money to publicize how unconstitutional AB 1576 is. Money to bring performers, directors, company heads and other interested parties (like, say, medical experts) to Sacramento to fill the galleries as a show of strength regarding how much we dislike AB 1576 (or whatever bill AHF next tries to advance, assuming that for some reason the Senate doesn't pass AB 1576, or Gov. Brown doesn't sign it). So get with the fucking program—or get ready to make that costly, aggravating and conceivably worthless move to another state if you can't make a movie customers want to buy in this one. To learn how you can help, email here or phone Free Speech's offices at 818-348-9373—but you already knew that, didn't you? So WAKE THE FUCK UP!!!