SAG-AFTRA Calls on California Lawmakers to Protect Deceased Performers

On July 2, SAG-AFTRA Vice President, Los Angeles and L.A. Local President Jodi Long delivered testimony in Sacramento at the California Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on AB 1836, a SAG-AFTRA-sponsored bill that would prohibit the nonconsensual digital replication of deceased performers in audiovisual works and sound recordings without the consent of their estate. The bill, originally introduced by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, passed the committee with unanimous bipartisan support — 11 in favor and none opposing.

“Protections need to exist for the deceased and their families,” Long said. “After all, if we’re indeed a free country, then we should be free to live and die without the fear of becoming someone else’s unpaid digital puppet.”

Another SAG-AFTRA sponsored bill, AB 2602, which would add critical informed consent protections for voice and likeness replications also passed the committee hearing with unanimous bipartisan support.

Photo: SAG-AFTRA Vice President, Los Angeles and L.A. Local President Jodi Long, center, sits beside Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan, right, as she prepares to give testimony on AB 1836 during a California Senate Judiciary hearing.