Once again, California’s government is trying to put people out of work.

Assemblymembers Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, and Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, introduced legislation last week that would require occupational licensing for adult performers, such as porn stars and webcam strippers. It’s the same sort of thing they did to writers, photographers, truckers and many others with Assembly Bill 5, a detrimental law that requires most independent contractors to be classified as employees.

Why is California obsessed with making its citizens jump through hoops for no reason?

If this Assembly Bill 2389 passes, adult performers would be out of a job unless they get a license for it first—but that’s much easier said than done. To qualify for the license, adult entertainers would have to complete a minimum of nearly three hours of training, with subsequent training/classes every three years that are at least 45 minutes long. They’d also be required to renew the license every two years. If that sounds arbitrary, that’s because it is. The amount of training is simply made up by a bureaucrat with no real evidence explaining why.

A three-hour obligation might seem like more of an inconvenience than a heavy burden, but that could change if the legislation is made into law. After all, there’s no maximum time limit to the training. There’s just a floor, meaning that as the state continually develops the program, there’s nothing stopping it from adding more hours to the requirement.

The cost of the training and license, too, is dangerously ambiguous. The bill vaguely states that the fee “shall not exceed the reasonable cost of providing the training.” This broad standard leaves too much discretion for those in charge. And that could lead to a lot of professionals unnecessarily boxed out of their industry.

At the end of the day, California is just up to its old tricks. It ranks in the top five states for most burdensome occupational licensing requirements. This license wouldn’t be the exception to the rule. Most occupational licensing is absolutely ridiculous. For example, as Shoshanna Weissman of the R Street Institute writes, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has employees blow-dry his sweaty armpits before public speaking engagements, which could technically be illegal in 49 states—where someone professionally blow-drying hair (of any sort) must have a cosmetology license. In fact, if they do it without one, they could face jail time alongside hefty fines.

Why?

Well, it’s not clear. All licensing laws really do is disproportionately impact the poor. They impose massive financial and legal hurdles, barring those with little resources from pursuing a career in the industry of their choice. Licensing adult performers would only expand these problems to this sector of the entertainment industry that’s often made up of women who supplement their income with this flexible gig work on the side.

This bill cites concerns for the safety and general welfare of adult entertainers, human trafficking in the industry and the fact that some adult performers avoid taxes. But it fails to explain how a license to work would solve any of these problems. Indeed, as economics writer Alex Muresianu said in Detroit News, the evidence suggests that occupational licensing doesn’t actually improve public safety or service quality. Nevertheless, states like California continue to write and enforce licensing laws that often go far beyond the necessary health and safety training with additional tests, schooling and fees. Work licenses vary drastically from state to state, too, further showing the arbitrary nature of the laws and their efficiency.

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Donald Trump versus the military-industrial complex For example, every state agrees on requiring special licensing for school bus drivers, but some states require 1,834 days of experience and coursework, while others require none. Seven states obligate hair braiders to become licensed cosmetologists, which takes an average of 386 days of training and education to qualify for. And tree trimmers must also be licensed in seven states, with an average training requirement of 574 days.

California has yet to demonstrate an actual need for licensing adult performers. Instead of helping workers, the bill would introduce barriers to enter this job field, which will harm the people with the lowest income, who may not be able to afford to comply. So then, if passed, this law will only make existing problems worse—and for what?

Molly Davis is a consumer freedom fellow with Young Voices. She is also a criminal justice policy analyst at Libertas Institute, a think tank in Utah.