Strip Club Bill Faces Clothes Call in Senate

If Assemblyman Scott Baugh has his way, nude dancers might soon be keeping a bit more clothing on.

For the second time in three years, the Huntington Beach Republican is pushing a bill that would give cities more power to regulate nude dance clubs on issues ranging from how they collect tips to whether dancers should wear G-strings.

The measure got a big boost Wednesday, as the Assembly approved Baugh’s bill, 58 to 10. But the legislation may have a tougher time in the Senate, where strip club owners and employees have vowed to take a stand.

They say Baugh’s proposal will kill their livelihood and trample their constitutional right to free speech.

“If this passes as it is now, it will take less than three months to shut everyone down,” predicted Michael Ross, a lobbyist for California’s nude dance clubs. “You’re talking about affecting a $1-billion industry in California that employs 22,000.”

However, Baugh said his bill doesn’t challenge the constitutional rights of strippers nor is it an effort to close the clubs. Instead, he said, it would give cities the ability to set minimum standards for performances without inviting a lawsuit.

Under current case law, the U.S. Supreme Court has said the most a municipal government can require is that a stripper wear pasties and a G-string.

But in California, many strip clubs have allowed nude dancing by calling themselves theaters.

In 1969, California lawmakers passed restrictions against strip clubs, but left the door open for full nudity during theatrical performances because of concerns about hindering constitutionally protected artistic expression.

Since then, strippers at clubs that serve alcohol--and are therefore regulated by the state Alcohol and Beverage Control board--have been required by the ABC to keep their genitals covered.

But hundreds of strip clubs up and down the state have been able to provide nude dancing by not serving alcohol, thus avoiding the ABC regulations. And they have managed to skirt local government prohibitions against full nudity by declaring themselves theaters.

But a theater is in the eye of the beholder, particularly in California’s courtrooms. Some cities that tried to rein in “nude juice bars” have been challenged in court and lost. But a few have won.

Baugh said his bill addresses that inconsistent application of the law by closing the “loophole” that allows nude dancing in theaters. “It’s an issue of local control,” he said.

The measure also would allow municipalities to prohibit patrons from handing tips to any dancer performing acts such as lap dances.

Cities have argued that the nude clubs produce harmful secondary effects in surrounding neighborhoods, among them crime, prostitution and drug use.

However, Ross argues that the clubs have no greater impact than a late-night convenience store that attracts a divergent crowd at night.

He promised that foes of Baugh’s measure, who dispatched about 5,000 letters to the Assembly in recent days, will redouble their efforts in the Senate.

“Scott needed something to make himself look better in a conservative district,” Ross said. “What makes it tough for us is this is a campaign year. Nobody wants to vote against this bill.”