Sponsors (6)
Official title: To mandate a criminal background check, screening only for offenses that involve violence, sex, stalking, or minors, for any individual involved with an entertainment industry project who will have frequent or private interaction with, or compulsory authority over minors.
Introduced September 3, 2026 by Donald Sternoff Beyer · Last progress September 3, 2026
The bill increases on-set protections for minors through mandatory, standardized criminal checks and powerful enforcement tools, but it also raises privacy, due-process, and significant compliance and economic risks for productions, contractors, and small companies.
Children and teens on production sets will face lower risk of contact with individuals convicted of sex, violent, or stalking offenses because productions must run standardized fingerprint-based criminal checks and authorities can quickly halt harmful activity.
Entertainment projects and minors gain stronger enforcement and deterrence because companies can face injunctions, revocation of on-set/investor rights, and civil liability (up to twice production costs) when prohibited conduct occurs.
Parents and guardians receive clearer assurance that productions will screen adults with standardized, centralized checks (paid by the production), improving transparency about who supervises minors.
Workers and contractors subjected to fingerprint-based DOJ/FBI-equivalent checks may have biometric data and limited offense information disclosed to employers, raising privacy and surveillance concerns.
Small, independent, and freelance productions face meaningful new compliance costs and administrative burdens (background-check processing, repeated checks within 90 days for recurring hires, broader coverage of contractors), which could strain budgets and operations.
The Attorney General's power to obtain ex parte temporary restraining orders and to halt productions can cause sudden job and income loss for cast and crew, and large civil penalties (up to twice production costs) risk bankrupting smaller companies even if wrongdoing was limited to one employee.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Requires fingerprint-based criminal checks for adults with access or ownership affecting minors in entertainment projects, paid by the production, and authorizes DOJ penalties and injunctions for violations.
Requires most adults with supervisory, frequent/private interaction, or meaningful ownership interest in entertainment projects to pass a criminal background check focused on sex, violent, stalking, and minor-related offenses within 90 days before their first day of work or receipt of ownership interest, with the production paying up to $100 per check. Gives the U.S. Attorney General authority to seek civil penalties and injunctions (including temporary restraining orders) against entertainment companies when covered employees fail to comply, and defines covered terms like "employee," "compulsory authority," "entertainment industry entity," and "entertainment industry project." Applies broadly across film, television, theater, music, fashion, commercials, certain video games, and streaming/monetized recorded content, and sets ownership-equity limits and revocation requirements to bar noncompliant individuals from continued production access or beneficial ownership above 2% until compliance or termination occurs.