Measure B, also known as the ''County of Los Angeles Safer Sex In the Adult Film Industry Act,'' is the law that requires the use of

condom A condom is a sheath-shaped Barrier contraception, barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a Sexually transmitted disease, sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both external condo ...

s in all

vaginal In mammals and other animals, the vagina (: vaginas or vaginae) is the elastic, muscular reproductive organ of the female genital tract. In humans, it extends from the vulval vestibule to the cervix (neck of the uterus). The vaginal introit ...

and

anal Anal may refer to: Related to the anus *Related to the anus of animals: ** Anal fin, in fish anatomy ** Anal vein, in insect anatomy ** Anal scale, in reptile anatomy *Related to the human anus: ** Anal sex, a type of sexual activity involving ...

sex scenes in

pornography Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is Sexual suggestiveness, sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolv ...

productions filmed in

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States counties and county equivalents, most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 202 ...

. The measure also requires porn production companies to obtain a health permit prior to production and to post the permit and a notice to performers regarding condom use during production. All individuals involved will also be required to pay $1,600 every 2 years. The measure was put to the voters in November 2012 and passed with 57% of the vote. The substance of the law was upheld on appeal in 2014.

History

In 2009, similar legislation was introduced at the

State State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

level. Citing an HIV positive test for a performer in May of that year, the

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (LACBOS) is the five-member Board of Supervisors, governing body of Los Angeles County, California, United States. History On April 1, 1850 the citizens of Los Angeles elected a three-man Court of Se ...

sought to find a sponsor for a bill to mandate condom use in adult films. They had originally approved a resolution to seek legislation in October 2008, and made it part of their official state legislative agenda in December. The primary testing center at the time was the

Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation The Adult Industry Medical Associates P.C. (formerly Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation), also known simply as AIM or AIM Medical, was a non-profit organization devoted to STD testing of pornographic performers for HIV and other ST ...

(AIM). Prior to this, in 2004, there were several related cases of HIV positive tests reported. Of the twenty-two reported cases roughly half were among men who work in gay films, while the rest were both men and women working in heterosexual productions. Measure B was voted on November 6, 2012, and passed with 55.9% of the vote.

Campaign

Support

In 2012 proponents gathered 372,000 voter signatures through a citizens' initiative in Los Angeles County to put Measure B on the 2012 ballot. Supporters of Measure B said it would stop the spread of

STDs in the porn industry Sexually transmitted infections in the pornography industry deals with the occupational safety and health hazard of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs) by workers in the sex industry. Since the 1980s many cases of pornographic perfo ...

and protect tax dollars. Supporters included porn performer Aurora Snow,

Jenna Jameson Jenna Marie Massoli (born April 9, 1974), known professionally as Jenna Jameson (), is an American businesswoman, writer, television personality, and former pornographic film actress. She has been named the world's most famous adult entertainm ...

, Pink Cross Foundation, and Michael Weinstein, president of the

AIDS Healthcare Foundation AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is a Los Angeles-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and advocacy services. As of 2024, AHF operates about 400 clinics, 69 outpatient healthcare centers, 62 pharma ...

. Weinstein claims that according to the Los Angeles County Public Health Department, "thousands of performers have been infected with thousands of STDs over the last few years."

Opposition

The No On Government Waste Committee opposed Measure B claiming it would waste tax-payer money and drive the porn industry out of the state. It said that it was supported in its opposition by the Los Angeles County Federation of Republican Women, Los Angeles County Republican and

Libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

Parties, and the

Log Cabin Republicans The Log Cabin Republicans (LCR) is an organization affiliated with the Republican Party which works to educate the LGBT+ community and Republicans about each other. History Log Cabin Republicans was formed in 1977 in California as a rallying ...

of Los Angeles. The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' and ''

Los Angeles Daily News The ''Los Angeles Daily News'' is the second-largest-circulating paid daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California, after the unrelated ''Los Angeles Times'', and the flagship newspaper of the Southern California News Group, a branch of Colorado ...

'' both editorialized in opposition to Measure B. Opponents include porn performers

Kayden Kross Kayden Kross (born 1985) is an American pornographic actress and director. She is a member of the AVN and XRCO Halls of Fame. Early life Kross grew up in the foothills between Sacramento and Placerville in a strict, religious household. She h ...

, Ava Addams,

Ron Jeremy Ronald Jeremy Hyatt (born March 12, 1953) is an American former Pornographic film actor, pornographic actor, and actor. Nicknamed "The Hedgehog", Jeremy was ranked by AVN (magazine), ''AVN'' at No. 1 in their "50 Top Porn Stars of All Time" l ...

Tera Patrick Tera Patrick (born Linda Ann Hopkins; July 25, 1976) is an American former pornographic film actor, pornographic actress who was the ''Penthouse (magazine), Penthouse'' Pet of the Month for February 2000 and is an inductee of the NightMoves H ...

and

Tanya Tate Tanya Tate (born 31 March 1979) is an English glamour model, writer, international cosplayer, and pornographic actress. In 2023, she was inducted into the XRCO Hall of Fame. Career After beginning her porn career in 2009, Tate was quoted in a

San Fernando Valley Business Journal The ''Los Angeles Business Journal'', established in 1979, is a weekly newspaper and online news source in Los Angeles, California, which provides coverage of local business news. According to the ''Journals website, it has a weekly print circu ...

article to the effect that she would want whomever she decided to have sex with "to get tested until I felt comfortable to sleep with them without a condom," adding that

president Michael Weinstein (who the article was about), "should be spending money on treating

IDS IDS may refer to: Computing * IBM Informix Dynamic Server, a relational database management system * Ideographic Description Sequence, describing a Unihan character as a combination of other characters * Integrated Data Store, one of the first d ...

and educating regular people about how to protect themselves instead of going after a small community that is aware of the risks." Pornographic actress

Nina Hartley Marie Louise Hartman (born 1959), known professionally as Nina Hartley, is an American pornographic film actress and sex educator. By 2017 she had appeared in more than one thousand adult films. She has been described by ''Las Vegas Weekly'' as ...

, who has a degree in

nursing Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...

, said: "Shooting scenes with condoms are noticeably more uncomfortable." She said they cause friction burns vaginally and anally, that they slip off and rip, and that they get stuck inside. "They aren't built to withstand our shoots," she said. Stoya, another female performer in adult films, said, "If you condense the amount of time we were actually having sex, it probably added up to almost four to five hours."

After effects

Technical opposition

In January 2014,

Falcon Entertainment Falcon Entertainment (also known as Falcon Studios), a United States independent company based in San Francisco, California, is one of the world's largest producers of gay pornography. Founded in 1971 by Chuck Holmes, Archived by web.archive.o ...

countered the ban after its passing by using

post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...

editing to remove the condoms from footage in its film ''California Dreamin' 1''; the edits were intentional, as the film was intended to reflect the "carefree and spontaneous" style of the 1970s and 80s. The financial and technical viability of this was challenged by an expert in videography in 2009.

Axel Braun Axel Braun (born September 22, 1966) is an Italian Americans, Italian-American adult film producer and director known for his productions of Pornographic parody film, pornographic parodies. He is the most awarded director in the history of adult ...

, in his experience as a director and the owner of the post-production company Level 5 Post, reiterated this in 2014.

Commentary

In her first column for the

OC Weekly ''OC Weekly'' was a free alternative weekly paper distributed in Orange County and Long Beach, California. It was founded in September 1995 by Will Swaim, who acted as editor and publisher until 2007. The paper was distributed at coffee shops, ...

, performer

Tasha Reign Rachel Swimmer (born January 15, 1989), known professionally as Tasha Reign, is an American pornographic actress, nude model, producer, and sex columnist known for her appearances in ''Playboy'' and '' Penthouse'' magazine. Early life Born in ...

reiterated Hartley and Stoya's comments regarding the impracticality of imposing condoms on the industry. Reign said, "Want to know a dirty secret that Measure B proponents, who say what they did was in the interest of us supposedly helpless performers, never brought up? After hours of sex with no breaks, attempting to endure the friction of the condom in your vagina or anus is...impossible. And to do this daily amounts to an occupational work hazard. Of course, due to the lack of respect towards the adult business and blatant disregard from society regarding the sexual comfort or even opinions of female performers, none of this mattered. No one asked us." In November 2012,

Funny or Die Funny or Die, Inc. is a comedy video website and production company owned by Henry R. Muñoz III that was founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy in 2007. The website contained exclusive material from a regular staf ...

. The video lampoons Measure B and requiring the use of

condoms A condom is a sheath-shaped barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both external condoms, also called male condoms, and internal (female) ...

in all sex scenes filmed in

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...

Industry exodus from Los Angeles County

;2013 Industry and agency officials say there has been a shift in where porn is made, and estimated the potential economic impact at US$6 billion. In November 2013, Diane Duke, executive director of industry trade group

Free Speech Coalition The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) is a non-profit industry trade group, trade association of the sex industry in the United States. Founded in 1991, it opposes the passage and enforcement of obscenity laws and many censorship laws (with the excep ...

, said, "Fewer people are shooting (adult film) in L.A. County, and some have moved to other areas around California or other states...". Two months later, ''

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American Technology journalism, technology news website headquarters, headquartered in Lower Manhattan, New York City and operated by Vox Media. The website publishes news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, cons ...

'' reported, "in the midst of rampant piracy on top of Measure B, many studios have relocated to

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, where filmmaking is cheaper and regulations are more lax." Then in September 2014, Robert Lang, director of Brookings Mountain West (a collaboration of

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...

and the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics (and tax policy), metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global econo ...

to study issues facing the

Intermountain West The Intermountain West, or Intermountain Region, is a geographic and geological region of the Western United States. It is located between the Rocky Mountain Front on the east and the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada on the west. Topography ...

region), was quoted as saying, "Some big part of it will stay (in LA) and production companies will continue to be based there, so it's not accurate to say that all of that $6 billion translates to Southern Nevada. But what it also gives to Las Vegas is that it's building technical capacity that undergirds non-pornographic production and media. It adds some competitive advantage in scale to Los Angeles." In the months after the measure passed, production companies began seeking shooting locations outside of Los Angeles County. In the

Ventura County Ventura County () is a county located in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, and the county seat is the city of Ventura. Ventura County comprises ...

city of Camarillo, CA, the

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

passed a forty-five-day moratorium on the issuance of film permits, including special-event and conditional-use permits, for porn productions due to the increased number of applications. A year after the passing of the measure, it was reported that prior to Measure B typically up to 500 permits would be applied for in Los Angeles County with FilmL.A., the nonprofit that processes permits for motion picture, television and commercial productions. In 2013, applications were received for twenty-four permits. A spokesman with the county's Department of Public Health said that eleven health permits were requested by adult-film studios. ;2014 One of the industry's largest producers,

Vivid Entertainment Vivid Entertainment Group is an American independent pornographic film production company,Steven Hirsch Steven Hirsch (born May 25, 1961) is the founder and co-chairman of the adult entertainment company Vivid Entertainment,Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

citing a more favorable environment.

Clark County Clark County may refer to: *Clark County, Arkansas *Clark County, Idaho *Clark County, Illinois *Clark County, Indiana *Clark County, Kansas *Clark County, Kentucky *Clark County, Missouri *Clark County, Nevada, containing Las Vegas *Clark County, ...

, where Las Vegas is located, does not require health permits and gives out location licenses for a nominal fee; filming permits in Los Angeles County can cost hundreds of dollars. In September 2014, the ''

Las Vegas Sun The ''Las Vegas Sun'' is one of the Las Vegas Valley's two daily subscription newspapers. It is owned by the Greenspun family and is affiliated with Greenspun Media Group. The paper published afternoons on weekdays from 1990 to 2005 and is now ...

'' featured an article about the adult industry's possible relocation from Southern California to Las Vegas. According to commentary by ''AVN'' magazine's political analyst Mark Kernes, the author of the ''Sun'' article, Andrea Domanick, "manages to make a few good points—and snags some quotes from Kink.com CEO Peter Acworth". In the article Acworth is quoted as saying, "Vegas is looking more and more attractive as time goes by... I think that a lot of companies are doing what we're doing. They're setting up satellite offices and getting their feet wet with Vegas as a potential place to shoot. The move is happening, but quietly. They don't want a target on their back." Acworth had announced several weeks earlier that he was shopping for office/production space in Las Vegas. The article also mentions the ease of production relative to California by stating that Nevada requires film permits only for specific locations and conditions. It states, "Shooting on private property, frequently the choice of porn producers, requires no permit or notification, and the state has no explicit regulations about condom use." The article also quotes a technician with knowledge of the mainstream film industry in Southern California and Nevada. Jim Reid of JR Lighting, one of Nevada's largest production rental companies stated, "A lot of people I know in the mainstream industry started out in the adult industry in California. It's a very good training ground." In December, after the ruling of the

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts for the following federal judicial districts: * Distric ...

regarding the measure, it was announced that applications for permits for pornographic productions has reduced by 95%.

State legislation - AB1576

On January 30, 2014, California Assemblyperson Isadore Hall ( D – Compton, 64th District) introduced Assembly Bill 1576. Like its failed predecessor, AB640 in 2013 (also introduced by Hall), the bill is a statewide version of Measure B that affects Los Angeles County only and makes it a criminal offense to violate its provisions. The bill also imposes a controversial government mandate on testing, forcing producers to disclose performers' STI test details to the Department of Industrial Relations. As of June 2014 the bill has passed through the following

committees A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

: Labor and Employment (April 1); Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism, and Internet Media (April 28); Appropriations (May 20); Assembly Floor Analysis (May 22). In June five adult actresses met with Hall's district director,

Heather Hutt Heather J. Hutt (born April 5, 1959) is an American politician who is currently serving as an appointed City council, councilmember representing the Los Angeles City Council District 10, 10th District of Los Angeles since April 11, 2023, previousl ...

, at the legislator's office on Artesia Boulevard in Compton and presented 650 signed petitions asking that the Assemblyman withdraw his "condoms in porn" bill. At the meeting with Hutt were adult film actresses

, Alex Chance and

Anikka Albrite The AVN Award for Female Performer of the Year is presented every January in Las Vegas, Nevada at the AVN Awards ceremony sponsored and presented by the American adult video industry trade magazine ''Adult Video News'' (AVN). It represents the fe ...

, along with industry newcomers Mia Li and Charli Piper and Michael Stabile, a publicist who has been working with

(FSC) and Kink.com on the issue. The group expressed their disappointment with the bill and the fact that it had been created with no input from adult industry representatives. In an interview with

AVN magazine ''Adult Video News'' (also called ''AVN'' or ''AVN Magazine'') is an American trade magazine that covers the adult video industry. ''The New York Times'' notes that ''AVN'' is to pornographic films what ''Billboard'' is to records. ''AVN'' spon ...

, Chance stated the following,

We told uttwe have our own self-regulation..." "We told her we wanted to have our voices heard. They'd had no performer input on this. About condoms and chafing and micro-tears, it didn't seem like she really knew all the details of that. She compared it to a dentist being forced to wear gloves, and maybe it's a little uncomfortable. She didn't realize why we have to have sex from 45 minutes to an hour, sometimes longer, and why that was necessary. She didn't know that the dangers of it, like if the condom breaks, and that we could get more STI's with the micro-tears, and just the condoms in general: Swelling, yeast infections, things of that nature—she just had no idea." "She also didn't know about the doctors with the FSC that help make the decisions," Chance added. "It's not just a couple of people in a building making decisions for the whole industry. They don't even make decisions on the moratoriums; a doctor does, and she had no idea about that and what the testing protocols—how the doctors work with them to make the most safe tests available; she had no idea.

In the thirty-five minute meeting Director Hutt mentioned that in the 2012 election the most votes cast in any district in favor of passage of Measure B came from Hall's district. Actress Nina Hartley countered that although Measure B and AB 1576 were written by policy makers at AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the AHF had yet to open a clinic in Compton which has one of the highest HIV infection rates in

Proposition 60

In 2016, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation backed Proposition 60, which would have enacted a condom mandate similar to Measure B statewide. Proposition 60 was defeated at the polls.

Legal appeal

2013

In January 2013, Universal City-based

Vivid Entertainment Vivid Entertainment Group is an American independent pornographic film production company,U.S. District Judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district. Each district cov ...

Dean Pregerson delivered a mixed ruling to the adult film industry saying that while making actors wear condoms during porn shoots does not violate the

First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

, enforcing such a law raises constitutional questions, and denied the adult film industry's motion for a preliminary injunction. Judge Pregerson agreed that some of the provisions and language of measure were too vague and did not sufficiently explain condom use when other sex acts were being filmed. He also questioned the manner of inspections to be conducted and agreed with the industry that their rights could be violated. Pregerson wrote, "Given that adult filming could occur almost anywhere, Measure B would seem to authorize a health officer to enter and search any part of a private home in the middle of the night, because he suspects violations are occurring. This is unconstitutional because it is akin to a general warrant...". Both sides considered the judgment a victory. Vivid Entertainment founder and co-chairman

Steven Hirsch Steven Hirsch (born May 25, 1961) is the founder and co-chairman of the adult entertainment company Vivid Entertainment,

2014

In March 2014, the appeal of Judge Pregerson's ruling was argued before the

, with a three-judge panel asking questions to both the appellants and the appellee, which was the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) rather than the lawsuit's official defendant, Los Angeles County. The panel for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals was presided over by Chief Judge

Alex Kozinski Alex Kozinski (; born July 23, 1950) is a Romanian-American jurist and lawyer who was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1985 to 2017. He was a prominent and influential judge, and many of his law clerks went on to ...

, and included Circuit Judge

Susan P. Graber Susan Pia Graber (born July 5, 1949) is an American attorney and jurist. She is a Senior status, senior United States federal judge, United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. A native of Oklahoma, she ...

, a Clinton appointee, and U.S. District Judge

Jack Zouhary Jack Zouhary (born December 18, 1951) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Education and career Zouhary was born in 1951 and raised in Toledo, Ohio as the son of a Syrian ...

of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, a George W. Bush appointee (sitting by designation). On December 15, the appeals court panel affirmed the lower court's order denying a motion to overturn Measure B. In the ruling, it was stated that "the district court did not abuse its discretion in holding that the invalid portions of Measure B (allowing for modification, suspension, and revocation of permits; authorizing administrative searches; and allowing discretion in setting fees) were severable.” The effect of which is that the court upheld the portions of the measure not struck down by the lower court. The court also took the position that "the condom mandate ... has only a

de minimis ''De minimis'' is a legal doctrine by which a court refuses to consider trifling matters. The name of the doctrine is a Latin expression meaning "pertaining to minimal things" or "with trifles", normally in the terms ("The praetor does not conce ...

(negligible) effect on expression." According to AVN magazine legal analyst Mark Kernes this position ignores "the fact that historically, every company that has adopted a mandatory condom policy has experienced a drop in sales, which translates to a decreased ability to have its message seen by the public." Regarding the ruling, Diane Duke, CEO of the

, stated,

While this intermediate decision allows that condoms may be mandated, it doesn't mean they should be. We have spent the last two years fighting for the rights of adult performers to make their own decisions about their bodies, and against the stigma against adult film performers embodied in the statute. Rather than protect adult performers, a condom mandate pushes a legal industry underground where workers are less safe. This is terrible policy that has been defeated in other legislative venues.

AHF president Michael Weinstein stated,

Today's ruling is a total vindication of AHF's position. We call on Los Angeles County for full enforcement of this law now. As the lower court said, they need to set fees based on actual cost. The porn industry has considered every option but following the law. Now it's time to do what fifty-seven percent of Los Angeles County voters have asked of the industry—and what the courts have upheld as constitutional.

He further stated that he hoped the adult entertainment industry will continue to appeal, taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, for a final and definitive ruling, however, on September 5, 2016, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to settle the case against Vivid.

References

External links

* {{Los Angeles elections Elections in Los Angeles County, California Occupational safety and health law Pornography in Los Angeles STDs in the sex industry 2012 California ballot propositions California local ballot measures