(a) Any person is guilty of a misdemeanor and is punishable by a fine of not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) and not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), imprisonment for not exceeding six months, or both, who, as parent, relative, guardian, employer, or otherwise having the care, custody, or control of any minor under the age of 16 years, exhibits, uses, or employs, or in any manner or under any pretense, sells, apprentices, gives away, lets out, or disposes of the minor to any person, under any name, title, or pretense for, or who causes, procures, or encourages the minor to engage in any of the following:
(1) Any business, exhibition, or vocation injurious to the health or dangerous to the life or limb of the minor.
(2) The vocation, occupation, service, or purpose of singing, playing on musical instruments, rope or wire walking, dancing, begging, or peddling, or as a gymnast, acrobat, contortionist, or rider, in any place whatsoever.
(3) Any obscene, indecent, or immoral purposes, exhibition, or practice whatsoever. Notwithstanding any other law, this paragraph applies to a person with respect to any minor under the age of 18 years.
(4) Any mendicant or wandering business.
Any person who willfully violates this section shall, upon conviction, be subject to a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or to imprisonment in the county jail for not more than six months, or both. No person shall be imprisoned under this section, except for an offense committed after the conviction of that person for a prior offense under this chapter.
(b) This section does not apply to or affect any of the following:
(1) The employment or use of any minor as a singer or musician in any church, school, or academy, or the teaching or learning of the science or practice of music.
(2) The employment of any minor as a musician at any concert or other musical entertainment, or as a performer in any form of entertainment, on the written consent of the Labor Commissioner pursuant to Section 1308.5.
(3) The participation by any minor of any age, whether or not the minor receives payment for his or her services or receives money prizes, in any horseback riding exhibition, contest, or event other than a rough stock rodeo event, circus, or race. As used in this paragraph, “rough stock rodeo event” means any rodeo event operated for profit or operated by other than a nonprofit organization in which unbroken, little-trained, or imperfectly trained animals are ridden or handled by the participant, and shall include, but not be limited to, saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, and bull riding. As used in this paragraph, “race” means any speed contest between two or more animals that are on a course at the same time and that is operated for profit or operated other than by a nonprofit organization.
(4) The leading of livestock by a minor in nonprofit fairs, stock parades, livestock shows and exhibitions.
(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 561, Sec. 156. (AB 1516) Effective January 1, 2018.)