SB 602
Relating to Closed Captioning Act
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- Passed Senate
- Passed House of Delegates
- To Governor
- Became Law
Bill overview
This bill, the Closed Captioning Act, aims to improve access to television programming for people with hearing impairments. It requires public places like restaurants, bars, and government offices that have televisions available for public use to ensure at least half of those televisions have their closed captioning feature activated. The bill includes an exception for places without televisions or with televisions that don’t offer closed captioning. It also defines key terms related to closed captioning.
Key provisions
- Requires at least half of televisions in public areas to have closed captioning enabled.
- Applies to a range of public areas including health care facilities, restaurants, and government offices.
- Defines ‘closed captioning’ as a transcript of audio content displayed on a television.
- Establishes a definition for ‘closed-captioning television receiver’.
- Allows places of public accommodation to decline to activate closed captioning if no televisions are available or if the available televisions don’t support it.
- Requires reasonable effort to prevent disabling of closed captioning features.
- Specifies that televisions should be distributed to ensure accessibility.
- Sets an effective date upon passage.
Who is affected
- Businesses operating restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues
- Healthcare facilities
- State and local government agencies
- Individuals with hearing impairments
- Patrons of public areas
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