We encourage all interested parties to get involved in your state! Contact your legislator or the author of the bill and let them know what you think!
If you hear that your state has a bill pending, please let us know so we can include it on this list.
PENDING LEGISLATION
Federal H.R. 3121 (Rep. Judy Chu, D-CA-27 and Vern Buchanan, R-FL-16) Performing Artist Tax Parity Act. Originally introduced on 6/5/19 but did not move forward. It was re-introduced 7/28/21. This bill would adjust the Qualified Performing Artist (QPA) deduction that allows actors to claim their business expenses without having to create a corporation. This bill would increase the gross income cap from $16,000 to $100,000 for single filers ($200K for joint filers). The $16,000 cap has remained unchanged since the law was passed in 1986. In the 2017, President Trump’s tax overhaul eliminated most business deductions for individuals creating an untenable situation for child performers, all of whom file their own taxes. Bizparentz strongly supports this bill. For more information, see the author’s press release here. The Federal government has a two year legislative cycle.
Washington State House Bill 2032 (Reps. Wicks, Berry, Sells, Senn and Eslick). Introduced 1/18/22, reintroduced 1/26/23. This bill was brought forward by a 17 year old Girl Scout named Chris McCarty(they/them) from Seattle. The bill aims to protect the children of family vloggers, requiring parents to compensate their children based on the number of views if the child visually appears in 30% or more of the content. It also allows that children may request, upon reaching the age of majority, may request permanent deletion of any video segment from the internet platform (such as Youtube, TikTok, IG, etc). This bill is especially interesting since it would be the first legislation about child performer compensation in Washington. They currently have work permits and limited work hours, but it is not enforced and they have no Coogan provision. Article about HB 2032 in TechCrunch.
Illinois State Senate Bill 1782 (Sen. Dave Koehler and Sen Linda Holmes (introduced 2/9/23). Like Washington’s bill, the Illinois version was brought by a child, 15 year old Shreya Nallamothu. This bill would include minors under the age of 16 (children ages 16-18 work as adults in IL) within the existing Child Labor Law. It also calls for kidfluencers to be accurately compensated and it would allow them to request deletion of the content upon turning 18. There are some interesting aspects of this, including the idea that to be defined as a vlogger, the child would have to appear in 30% of the family’s compensated video content within a 30 day period, and that the vlogger (the parent it seems) must submit a report to the department of labor every year documenting the time spent. The penalty is that the CHILD can initiate civil penalties if the parent doesn’t report. Article about SB 1782 in the Illinois Senate Democratic Caucus.
Recent Passed Legislation
Three Bill Package for Sexual Harassment and Child Abuse Prevention
California AB3369 (Chu) Passed 9/28/20 TAKES EFFECT IMMEDIATELY. This bill is part of an effort to clean up AB2338 (Levine) –– see recently passed legislation –which was not implemented due to multiple problems. This bill exempts employers of child actors from the sexual harassment training component IF the child has a valid work permit and IF the child is in compliance with the sexual harassment training requirement listed in Labor Code 1700.52. In other words, it means the child actor will not have to do sexual harassments training for EVERY job, EVERY employer. Instead they will only need to complete the training every two years. LC 1700.52 also requires that talent agencies keep a copy of a child’s work permit prior to agreeing to represent them, or send them on an audition.
California AB1963 (Chu) Passed 9/29/20. This bill adds most of our employers to the list of people who are mandated reporters of child abuse. The specific language is, “A human resource employee of a business that employs minors or a person whose duties require direct contact with and supervision of minors in the performance of the minors’ duties in the workplace.”. Bizparentz supports this bill.
California AB3175 (Levine) Passed 9/25/20. The urgency clause in this bill means it will take effect immediately. This is a major clean-up of the Levine bill from last year that required sexual harassment training for a work permit (see recently passed bills below). That bill was never really implemented because the problems were too extensive and appropriate training was not available. This bill would:
–change the training from both the child and the parent separately, to the parent doing training WITH the child, allowing parents the ability to discuss and explain sensitive situations
–the pair must complete online training in the state website (FREE), and then report completion to the DLSE. The Dept of Fair Employment and Housing has completed a new sexual harassment prevention training module and it is now available.
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California AB 267 (Chu) – PASSED signed by Gov. 9/12//2019. This law clarified the current regulation that babies under one month old need a physician’s clearance to work and, more importantly, it clarifies the definition of “entertainment industry” to include ALL forms. The current law language uses the outdated term “motion picture set or location”, but has always been interpreted to include all employment for babies. This bill changes the words to “in the entertainment industry” so that it is clearly intended for all types of work, and specifies that a board certified pediatrician must be the physician to sign for a work permit. According to the author, “In this era of online, streaming video and mobile entertainment content the infant stars of Youtube, Netflix and Instagram must be brought under the protection of law.” Bizparentz supported this bill.
California AB2338 (Levine) 2018 PASSED. signed by Gov 9/30/18, effective date unknown. This law was sponsored by the Association of Talent Agents and SAGAFTRA. It requires talent agencies to provide sexual harrassment educational materials. It also oddly requires PARENTS of performers ages 14 – 17 to attend complete sexual harrassment training prior to the issuance of an entertainment work permit. It also requires agents to obtain a copy of the child’s work permit before sending them out on an audition, meeting or job. Bizparentz was not consulted and had no input on this bill, nor did any parent of a performer that we are aware of. Had we been involved, we would have been STRONGLY OPPOSED. There is no situation when an employee (your agent) should be requiring job duties of a parent (attending training), and no situation when an employee (your agent) should be requesting and retaining your child’s work permit. There is a searchable work permit function and that should have been enough for an agent to see that a child has a valid permit if that was a legitimate concern. We have questions: how much is this training going to cost the artist? who is developing this training and will it be applicable to child performers? work permits in CA require valid bank accounts to be attached — are we now sharing bank information with our agent?
Implementation remains to be seen, but we see costly services in our future and are outraged that this bill did not travel through the appropriate committees, and that affected parties (parents and children) were not involved in the public process. Stay tuned. Deadline Article.
California AB2388 (Chu) 2018 PASSED Introduced 2/14/2018, signed by Gov 9/5/18. This bill was originally written to include social media influencers in the current child performer labor laws in CA, thus requiring Coogan accounts, work hours and education. After amendments, it added the word “digital” to the EXEMPTION in the law for one hour, uncompensated appearances (such as singing the anthem at a ballgame, or performing in a Facebook video) from labor laws. Bizparentz supported this bill in the original form.
New York S. 2440 / A.2683 (Hoylman) PASSED Child Victims Act. Signed into law Feb. 14, 2019. While not industry-specific, this bill extends the statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases. It also creates a one year “look back” window, which allows victims to file legal claims in instances where the statute of limitations window has expired. Extends criminal statute of limitations to to age 28 for felonies and age 25 for misdemeanors. For civil cases, will allow survivors to bring lawsuits until age 55. Provides training for judges. Bizparentz supports this legislation and any legislation that extends the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse cases.
Recent Dead Bills
California AB 437 (Assemblymember Ash Kalma – D). Let Actors Work Act. Died on the Senate Floor, placed in the inactive file by Cortese on 11/30/22. A bill sponsored by SAG-AFTRA, which would allow actors in California the freedom to take on additional work as long as there is no material conflict of interest with their original employer. The bill also limits the unfair practice of production studios unilaterally holding artists off the job market for unreasonable periods of time. This bill is opposed by Motion Picture Association, and most studios and production companies. Bizparentz was neutral on this bill, because although we agree with the premise, we believe it will result in lower pay for actors overall, since much of the logic for higher wages lies in the logic that the studio/advertiser is buying the actor’s image for their brand or character. A companion bill, AB 983, was aimed for musicians and died in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
California AB2538 (Chu) DIED IN COMMITTEE. Introduced 2/19/20. Passed Assembly, but died in the Senate without passing a committee on 11/30/20. This bill refers to professional and pre-professional athletes and their agents. It would make their agent duties align with those in the Talent Agency Act in terms of not sending athletes who are minors to locations that are detrimental to their health or safety. This bill would prohibit an athlete agent from sending an athlete to any location that would be hazardous or detrimental to the health, safety, morals, or education of the minor, as specified. The bill would prohibit an athlete agent from entering any contract (example: a commercial) on behalf of an athlete who is a minor that requires the minor to appear at any event or establishment where alcoholic beverages or other intoxicating substances are sold to be consumed on the premises or where they are served, except as specified.
Federal H.R. 3691 (Meng) – 115th Congress. Introduced 9/6/2017, DIED IN COMMITTEE, never got co-sponsors. This bill would have been the first nationwide legislation designed to protect child models and actors. The Federal legislative process takes two years and this bill never progressed. This bill would establish a maximum number of work hours, blocked Coogan trust accounts at 15% , a specification that payment must be made in cash (as opposed to product), and that child performers cannot be sexually harrassed in the workplace.
Bizparentz did not support this bill. While we would welcome national standards, this bill contained details that we could not support. This is the second attempt at this kind of bill: Meng introduced a similar bill in 2015 that died in committee. Legislator’s Press Release. Opposing Critique from Deb McAlister.