MEMPHIS, TN — An ordinance that took effect January 1st requires workers at adult-oriented businesses and the owners of those businesses to be licensed annually before they’re allowed to work in Shelby County.Bartenders, waitresses, dancers, bouncers, store clerks, movie-theater employees, and others at the county’s more than two dozen adult establishments must undergo criminal background checks and complete county license applications or change careers.

The documentation required to be submitted with a license application is similar to that required under 18 USC §2257: a certified copy of a birth certificate, multiple current photographs, a government-issued identification document (driver’s license, military ID or passport, for example) and a Social Security number. The fee for an initial employee license is $198; renewals cost a minimum of $113.

Background checks will be conducted by sheriff’s deputies and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. A history of prostitution, rape (including statutory rape), sexual battery, public indecency, pandering, sale or distribution of obscene materials, or other illegal activities can keep a worker or business owner from being licensed by the five-member Shelby County Adult Oriented Establishment Board.

The board’s members include a doctor, a former county employee, a local businessman, a consultant, and a former criminal-court judge.

Although the new ordinance is somewhat controversial, County Commissioner Wyatt Bunker told the city’s Fox television affiliate, WHBQ- Channel 13, “I think the county has…really stepped up to the plate” with the new rules.