A federal appeals court panel today upheld a Los Angeles County law requiring porn actors to wear condoms during film shoots.
Measure B was approved by voters in November 2012. It requires producers of adult films to obtain a public health permit from the county, follow all health and safety laws, including condom use, and pay a permit fee to cover enforcement of the law.
The measure’s main provision requiring condom use was upheld by a federal court judge in August 2013. In a 40-page opinion issued today, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision, denying claims by Vivid Entertainment and a pair of porn performers who claimed the measure was a restriction on the First Amendment.
The panel ruled, however, that the measure “was narrowly tailored to achieve the substantial governmental interest of reducing the rate of sexually transmitted infections, and left open adequate alternative means of expression.”
In his 2013 ruling, U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson also found that certain provisions of Measure B gave the county health department too much discretion in regard to restriction of film permits. The judge also found that some of the enforcement provisions of Measure B violated the Fourth Amendment because it gave the county the power to “enter and inspect any location” where adult filming is taking place.
