SB 537
Creating Closed Captioning Act
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Sign in to take action- Introduced
- 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, healthcare facilities, and entertainment venues that have televisions available for public use to activate closed captioning on at least half of their televisions. The bill includes an exception for places without televisions or with only non-captioning televisions, and defines key terms related to closed captioning.
Key provisions
- Requires at least half of televisions in public areas to have closed captioning activated.
- Specifies public areas covered by the law (healthcare, restaurants, entertainment venues, etc.).
- Establishes a process for places of public accommodation to maintain closed captioning.
- Defines ‘closed captioning’ and ‘closed-captioning television receiver’.
- Creates an exception for locations lacking televisions or with only non-captioning televisions.
- Requires a reasonable effort to prevent deactivation of closed captioning features.
Who is affected
- Restaurants
- Healthcare Facilities
- Entertainment Venues
- State Agencies
- Local Governments
Notable changes
- Requires a minimum percentage of televisions to have closed captioning enabled.
- Creates a specific exception for locations without televisions or with only non-captioning televisions.
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