California Assembly wants porn actors to wear condoms

A bill requiring pornographic film actors to wear condoms during sex scenes easily passed through the California State Assembly on Tuesday in Sacramento, in the U.S. Its passage was in spite of resistance from most of the adult film industry. The bill would also require employers to test pornography film actors regularly for sexually transmitted diseases. The lower house passed the measure 48-13, with 19 Assembly members not voting, and the bill now goes to the Senate. State Assembly member Isadore Hall, a Democrat from Compton who authored the bill, has hailed the measure as a public health effort. The legislator said the bill was aimed at reducing the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, within the pornography industry. Adult film actors are 10 times more likely to contract a sexually transmitted disease than the general public, according to the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the group which sponsored the bill. The Free Speech Coalition, which represents the pornography industry, calls the law “a morality crusade” aimed at driving a legal business out of California. The coalition has warned that further regulations on condoms, and the regular testing of actors, would force the film sector from the state. The sector is worth an estimated nine billion dollars to $13 billion a year. The 13 Assembly members, who voted against the bill, include Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Donnelly and other lawmakers. The legislators are largely from areas in or surrounding Los Angeles County, where most U.S. adult films are shot.