New Jersey to address protections for child performers and New York Assembly Bill A5771 would amend the Child Performer Education and Trust Act of 2003

Several months ago, a coalition of entertainment industry organizations and labor unions began meeting with New Jersey State Department of Labor and Workforce representatives, as well as the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission, in order to expand protections for child performers to New Jersey.  Such protections had previously been enacted in New York State.  Representatives from AFTRA, SAG, and Actors' Equity Association joined the Motion Picture Association of America and the Association of Independent Commercial Producers in the state's capital to begin the process of examining the work rules, education standards and production output in order to draft appropriate legislation.

As with New York's Child Performer Education and Trust Act of 2003, the New Jersey legislation will address three main areas:  work rules and permitting, trust fund accounts (or Coogan Accounts) and education provisions for work during school days.  With the New Jersey legislature currently on break, the focus has now shifted back to New York where a bill has been introduced to clarify the roles of the state's Labor Department and Comptroller in handling the monies within the Child Performer's Holding Fund.

The New York State Assembly bill, A5771, would amend the 2003 Act in clarifying the educational requirements for child performers who work during school days, and the management of their earnings.  In Albany,  Assemblywoman Helene E. Weinstein is the primary sponsor of A5771, which deals with on-site teaching, when that instruction would commence, and the providing of "substantially equivalent education."  This bill would also propose transferring unclaimed monies in a child performer's Holding Fund to the state's abandoned property fund.

The educational requirements in both states are a critical component in balancing the responsibilities of parent, state and employer.  Guaranteeing education to child performers, protecting their earnings and achieving consistency of regulations from state to state are all a high priority as AFTRA continues to work in bringing meaningful protections to its younger members.