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California Enacts Law Requiring IMDb To Remove Actor Ages On Request (hollywoodreporter.com)
California Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday signed legislation that requires certain entertainment sites, such as IMDb, to remove -- or not post in the first place -- an actor's age or birthday upon request, reports Hollywood Reporter. From the report: The law, which becomes effective Jan. 1, 2017, applies to entertainment database sites that allow paid subscribers to post resumes, headshots or other information for prospective employers. Only a paying subscriber can make a removal or nonpublication request. Although the legislation may be most critical for actors, it applies to all entertainment job categories. "Even though it is against both federal and state law, age discrimination persists in the entertainment industry," Majority Leader Ian Calderon, D-Whittier, said in a statement. "AB 1687 provides the necessary tools to remove age information from online profiles on employment referral websites to help prevent this type of discrimination."Bloomberg columnist, Shira Ovide said, "Congratulations, IMDB. You have now become the subject of California law." Slate writer Will Oremus added, "Sometimes I start to think California is not such a bad place and then they go and do something like this."
Since this thread is likely to attract the attention of our readers from California, I'll add note here that's a bit of a tangent.
Many of you have moved to Texas or are considering doing so, because in Texas many more jobs are available, and you can get a house five times larger than what you can afford in the desirable parts of California*, etc.
* Based on:
Texas unemployment 4.2% vs California 6.3%
Average home price/sq foot of $661 in San Francisco area vs $121 in DFW
61K average income in California vs $53K in DFW
If you've moved here or are thinking about moving here, welcome to Texas!
What does this have to with dumb laws and ridiculous regulation in California? If you think Texas might be a better place for you to live, consider that there are *reasons* for that. The things we do in Texas *cause* Texas to have much lower cost of living, with lower unemployment and comparable wages. You left California and came here because the California way of doing things didn't work out. You're coming to Texas because the way we do things works better. Therefore, when you arrive please don't lecture us about "you should do it this way, the way did it in California." If you like the California way so much, including the results of the California way, please enjoy those results - by staying in California. Here in Texas we don't want to ban the use of dihydrogen monoxide in construction. If you want to live without dihydrogen monoxide, you can do that in California - there's not much H2O there. If you decide Texas would be better place to live, welcome. Now put down the bong, take off that dress, Fred, and hop in the truck. We have some work to do.