Should Clark County lure porn producers frustrated by new condom law?

David Madore and Tom Mielke are looking like they will be the majority on the Board of Clark County Commissioners. Both decry regulations and have promised to do whatever it takes to bring new jobs to the county.

Meanwhile, California voters in LA County on Tuesday supported a measure that will require adult film actors to wear condoms.

According to news reports, there’s concern the new law will drive the porn industry away because viewers like watching unprotected sex.

Are you thinking what the mavens are thinking? (Probably not.) After all, Portland is home to “Leverage,” and “Portlandia,” and, temporarily, “The Real World.”

Under the new law, producers will have to apply for a permit from the LA County Department of Public Health to shoot sex scenes, according to The Huffington Post. The fee “will finance periodic inspections of porn filming, and violations will be subject to civil fines and criminal misdemeanor charges.”

We really don’t think Clark County Director of Public Health John Wiesman wants to assign a condom inspector.

“James Deen, a 26-year-old award-winning porn superstar, commented to The Huffington Post about the passage of Measure B. ‘I am disappointed. Not particularly about the law but about my community of adult entertainers being continually bullied and used by others,’ he wrote in an email.”

The Los Angeles Times did not endorse the measure, writing in an editorial that, while well-intentioned, had too many flaws. “Given the nature of adult films, viewers will continue to demand, and producers will continue to present, films depicting explicit unprotected sex,” the editorial read.

“If government already can’t keep track of these productions, it is hard to imagine how it would enforce a permit and condom requirement,” the editorial read. “Under-the-radar productions would remain under the radar instead of being incorporated into the testing regimen of more established production companies, while those bigger companies — if their executives are to be believed — would be more likely to flee to unregulated counties, states and nations.”

And that’s significant, they noted.

“Even if there are only a few hundred on-camera performers, porn is estimated to be a $1-billion to $2-billion industry, employing thousands of sound, lighting, stage, technical and other crew members and post-production workers in between gigs in more-mainstream film and television productions,” they wrote.

Hmmm … a billion-dollar industry, searching for a home? One that has plenty of empty buildings available for shoots? One that has out-of-work construction workers who could build sets? One that decries regulations? One that is close to a major airport, which has daily flights in and out of Los Angeles?

After all, Lisa Nisenfeld, president and CEO of the Columbia River Economic Development Council, did say in May that they are searching for the “sweet spot,” of cutting-edge employers.