AB 2338: Talent agencies: education and training.

Existing law requires talent agencies to be licensed by the Labor Commissioner and to comply with specified employment laws applicable to talent agencies.

This bill would require a talent agency to provide educational materials on sexual harassment prevention, retaliation, and reporting resources and nutrition and eating disorders to its artists, would require those educational materials to be in a language the artist understands, and would require the licensee, as part of the application for license renewal, to confirm with the commissioner that it has and will continue to provide the relevant educational materials.

Existing law regulates the employment of minors in the entertainment industry and requires the written consent of the Labor Commissioner for a minor to take part in certain types of employment.

This bill would require, prior to the issuance of a permit to employ a minor in the entertainment industry, that an age-eligible minor and the minors parent or legal guardian receive and complete training in sexual harassment prevention, retaliation, and reporting resources. The bill would further require a talent agency to request and retain a copy of the minors entertainment work permit prior to representing or sending a minor artist on an audition, meeting, or interview for engagement of the minors services.

This bill would make it a violation of existing laws for a talent agency to fail to comply with the bills education and permit retention requirements and would authorize the commissioner to assess civil penalties of $100 for each violation, as prescribed.