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Porn Producers Threaten To Leave LA County After Passage Of Measure B

LOS ANGELES (CBS) —  Some things just go together. Peanut butter and jelly, cheese and crackers ... porn and the San Fernando Valley.

After voters approved Measure B on election day -- an ordinance that would require porn actors to wear condoms while making XXX films -- producers are threatening to leave Los Angeles County.

The Valley without porn production?!

More than 55% of voters passed Measure B sending shock waves through the porn industry.

Juan Fernandez, reporting for CBS2 and KCAL9, spoke to Michael Weinstein of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the organization that spearheaded the measure.

Said Weinstein, "The fact this involves sex really doesn't make it that exotic. It's a business,  and it affects health."

Weinstein acknowledges that passing the measure was the easy part. Enforcing the rule will be an entirely different matter.

LA County's Health Department will be responsible for monitoring sexual activity in the same way they have to patrol restaurants and nail salons. Says Weinstein, "You will apply for a permit, you fill the paperwork. And then there are spot inspections. The same if you are a food handler, or a dog groomer or a barber. Someone is going to come around every once and a while and see if you are protecting people's health."

Fernandez spoke to Cindy Bui, a nail salon owner in Studio City. She says inspectors can show up any time, unannounced. "They come randomly. They just ask to see your license. They make sure the salon is up to par as far as cleanliness."

Meanwhile, the porn industry is threatening to pull production out of LA County. Options? A lawsuit or pulling up stakes and moving to a new locale -- say Riverside or Ventura County? Or leaving California, altogether -- New Hampshire is the only other state in the union where filming XXX videos is legal.

The porn industry has already sent a letter to the LA County Board of Supervisors saying they will fight the so-called "porn police."

Weinstein says Measure B was not designed to cost Los Angeles business revenue but to protect the health of the performers and the public.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation is suggesting professional nurses act as the "porn police."

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