‘Scarlet Letter Statute’: L.A.’s Adult Performers Strike Back Against State Registry Bill (LA Times)

Read the full article by Sonja Sharp at LATimes.com 

Adult film actress Riley Reyes was preparing for a “particularly physical” scene last week when she received word of a proposed state measure that would impose strict new rules on her industry.

“I was completely shocked,” said Reyes, who is among “hundreds of thousands” of performers the bill initially sought to have fingerprinted, background-checked and mandated into education programs under a new licensing scheme. “It was weird to have to go to work and act sexy and normal after finding out.”

Reyes shoots hardcore sex scenes on the storied sets of the San Fernando Valley, long dubbed the “porn capital of the world.” She also heads the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee, one of a small number of organized labor and workers’ rights groups that meet regularly with lawmakers on industry issues.

None of them knew about Assembly Bill 2389 until after it was introduced. The snub has renewed a bitter fight over who speaks for adult performers in a state where legislators have long sought to assert some control over the industry. After a decade of proposed porn czars and failed condom codes, strippers, adult film actors and webcam performers say Sacramento is looking for novel ways to police them.

One industry lawyer called it a “scarlet letter statute.”