NY State Senate Bill 2013-S7829

Senate Bill S7829

2013-2014 Legislative Session

Prohibits persons, who are not licensed employment agencies and who charge a fee for performers' services, from making misleading representations that it will secure a job for a client in the entertainment field

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Consumer Protection Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jun 12, 2014	referred to consumer protection

2013-S7829 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Consumer Protection
Law Section:: General Business Law
Laws Affected:: Add §180, amd §190, Gen Bus L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2015-2016: S1852
2017-2018: S140

2013-S7829 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2013-S7829 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                BILL NUMBER:S7829

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the general business law, in relation
to prohibiting certain entities charging fees for performers' services
from making certain false, misleading or deceptive representations

PURPOSE:  To create an unambiguous distinction between Employment
Agencies and Talent Services Companies, to prevent the latter from
making false and misleading statements concerning job placement to
workers and performers, and to create a plaintiff cause of action as
well as civil and criminal penalties for such violations.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends the general business law creating a new section 180
in relation to Performers' services, providing that no person who is
not licensed under this article shall make any false, misleading or
deceptive oral or written representation that it will secure for a
prospective client a job as a performer in the entertainment industry
in exchange for such fee.

Section 2 amends section 190 of the general business law to provide a
violation under section

Section 3 contains the effective date

JUSTIFICATION:  New York State is home to thousands of performers
seeking a legitimate opportunity to work in the entertainment
industry. Unfortunately, the number of candidates looking for
employment far exceeds the available opportunities for work, creating
a highly competitive labor market and one wrought with unscrupulous
players who prey upon a class of uninformed workers/performers.

Throughout New York, entities place adds in neighborhood newspapers,
and attach advertisements to walls and poles, whereby they offer
potential clients services such as acting seminars, career counseling,
and resume assistance. However, these advertisements take an insidious
turn once they couple these offered services with false and deceptive
representations of securing employment for the potential client. Such
a representation is the hook that ropes in the client, and is the
equivalent of stealing sometimes hundreds, or even thousands of
dollars from a trusting and unsuspecting performer.

Relevant examples of such practices in New York include the young
performer whose parents are told that their child will secure work
once they provide a fee to an entity, in order to expose the child to
a particular casting director, agent, producer or manager. Another
recent trend is the company that claims it will secure an actor an
audition for a reality television show, for a fee, and that should the
actor make it past the first cut, their fee will be returned. In other
cases, unscrupulous producers are attempting to finance their films by
charging actors fees in order to appear in the film, or casting
agencies charging actors fees to post headshots and resumes online and
claiming that they will have access to various film projects.
Performers are tricked into believing that than entity or person is
well connected within the industry, and falsely believe that they will
secure work from such access by paying fees.


Currently, these "Talent Services Companies" are outside the grasp of
the civil and criminal law because they are not characterized or
registered as "employment agencies." This proposed bill would give any
injured party a right to bring action in their own name to recover
damages.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New Bill

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None

EFFECTIVE DATE:  This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after
it shall have become a law.

2013-S7829 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  7829

                            I N  S E N A T E

                              June 12, 2014
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen.  LITTLE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee on Consumer Protection

AN ACT to amend the general business law,  in  relation  to  prohibiting
  certain  entities  charging  fees for performers' services from making
  certain false, misleading or deceptive representations

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new section
180 to read as follows:
  S 180. PERFORMERS' SERVICES; UNLICENSED PERSONS. NO PERSON, WHO IS NOT
LICENSED  PURSUANT  TO  THIS ARTICLE AND WHO CHARGES OR IMPOSES A FEE TO
PROVIDE PERFORMERS' SERVICES SUCH AS PROFESSIONAL TRAINING, CAREER COUN-
SELING, RESUME  ASSISTANCE,  ONLINE  RESUME  HOSTING  OR  OTHER  SIMILAR
SERVICES,  SHALL MAKE ANY FALSE, MISLEADING OR DECEPTIVE ORAL OR WRITTEN
REPRESENTATION THAT IT WILL SECURE FOR A PROSPECTIVE CLIENT A JOB  AS  A
PERFORMER IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY IN EXCHANGE FOR SUCH FEE.
  S  2.  Section  190 of the general business law, as amended by chapter
632 of the laws of 1975, is amended to read as follows:
  S 190. Penalties for violations. 1. Any person who  violates  and  the
officers  of  a corporation and stockholders holding ten percent or more
of the stock of a corporation which is not publicly traded, who knowing-
ly permit the corporation to violate sections one  hundred  seventy-two,
one  hundred seventy-three, one hundred seventy-six, ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY,
one hundred eighty-four, one hundred eighty-four-a, one hundred  eighty-
five,  one hundred eighty-five-a, one hundred eighty-six, or one hundred
eighty-seven of this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor  and  upon
conviction  shall  be  subject  to  a  fine  not  to exceed one thousand
dollars, or imprisonment for not more than one year,  or  both,  by  any
court of competent jurisdiction. The violation of any other provision of
this  article  shall  be  punishable by a fine not to exceed one hundred
dollars  or  imprisonment  for  not  more  than  thirty  days.  Criminal
proceedings  based upon violations of these sections shall be instituted
by the commissioner and may be instituted by any  persons  aggrieved  by
such violations.

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                           LBD15478-01-4

S. 7829                             2

  2.  ANY INDIVIDUAL, WHO HAS BEEN INJURED BY REASON OF ANY VIOLATION OF
SECTION ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY OF THIS ARTICLE, MAY BRING AN ACTION  IN  HIS
OR  HER OWN NAME TO RECOVER HIS OR HER ACTUAL DAMAGES. THE COURT MAY, IN
ITS DISCRETION, INCREASE THE AWARD OF SUCH DAMAGES TO AN AMOUNT  NOT  TO
EXCEED  THREE  TIMES  THE PLAINTIFF'S ACTUAL DAMAGES, IF THE COURT FINDS
THE DEFENDANT WILLFULLY OR KNOWINGLY VIOLATED THE PROVISIONS OF  SECTION
ONE  HUNDRED  EIGHTY  OF  THIS ARTICLE. IN ADDITION, THE COURT MAY AWARD
REASONABLE ATTORNEY'S FEES TO A PREVAILING PLAINTIFF.
  S 3. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day  after  it  shall
have become a law.

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