Skip to content
A1547Assembly2017-2018 SessionSame asS3717

Closed Captioning On Request

Official title

“Requires places of public accommodation, resort or amusement that operate televisions during regular hours of operation to provide closed captioning on certain televisions upon request”

Sponsor Kenneth ZebrowskiAD-96+8 co-sponsorsAffects Legal
Status
In Senate Committee
Codes
Impact
4/10
Low
Passage
0%

Bill progress

Step 5 of 7

In Senate · Codes

What's happening

This bill requires public places operating televisions to enable closed captioning upon request during business hours.

Why it matters

  1. Advances accessibility for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. by guaranteeing they can understand televised content in public spaces when they request captions, supporting inclusivity and equal access.

  2. Places responsibility on businesses. to comply with accessibility requests, potentially requiring staff training and awareness about how to enable closed captioning on their televisions.

  3. Establishes clear exceptions. to avoid undue burden on businesses—if TVs can’t provide captions or if multiple TVs are showing the same channel, only one needs to have captions enabled—balancing accessibility with operational feasibility.

  4. Clarifies key terms and coverage. , specifying what counts as a “public area” and what “closed captioning” means, helping both patrons and business owners understand their rights and obligations under the law.

The daily · weekday mornings

Albany, before your first meeting.

Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.

Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.

Who cares

  • Patrons requesting closed captioning

    They would be able to request captions on televisions in public areas during an establishment’s posted business hours, subject to the bill’s exceptions.

  • Operators of public accommodations, resorts and amusement venues

    They would have to enable captions upon request on public-area televisions, with an exemption if none can provide captions.

  • Venue staff responsible for televisions

    When two public-area televisions show the same channel, only one would need captions enabled under the bill.

Headline styles

Closed Captioning On Request

Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.

Sponsors

Primary sponsor
Kenneth Zebrowski

Assembly Member · Assembly District 96

History

  1. Referred to codes
  2. Delivered to senate
  3. Passed assembly
  4. Ordered to third reading cal.119
  5. Returned to assembly
  6. Died in senate
  7. Referred to codes
  8. Delivered to senate
  9. Passed assembly
  10. Advanced to third reading cal.68
  11. Reported
  12. Referred to governmental operations

Companion bill

The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.

S3717Senate

Require Captions on Public TVs

In Senate Committee · Codes · Sponsor William J. Larkin Jr.

Impact 4 · Low0% to pass

Full text

2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗

STATE OF NEW YORK

1547

2017-2018 Regular Sessions

IN ASSEMBLY

January 12, 2017

Introduced by M. of A. ZEBROWSKI, GOTTFRIED, COLTON, TITONE, SKOUFIS, ROSENTHAL, WEPRIN, McDONOUGH, BLAKE -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. BRINDISI, KEARNS, RODRIGUEZ, SKARTADOS -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Operations

AN ACT to amend the civil rights law, in relation to requiring places of public accommodation, resort or amusement that operate televisions during regular hours of operation to provide closed captioning on certain televisions upon request

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

Section 1. The civil rights law is amended by adding a new section 79-o to read as follows:

§ 79-o. Closed captioning in places of public accommodation, resort or amusement. 1. A place of public accommodation, resort or amusement, as defined in subdivision nine of section two hundred ninety-two of the executive law, shall upon request be required to have closed captioning enabled on all televisions that are located in the public area of such establishment during regular hours of business. The regular hours of business of the place of public accommodation, resort or amusement shall be the hours of operation as posted in such establishment.

2. The provisions of this section shall not apply if:

(a) no televisions in the public area of the place of public accommodation, resort or amusement are capable of providing closed captioning; or

(b) in the event that two televisions in the public area of the place of public accommodation, resort or amusement have the same channel being broadcast, only one of the televisions shall be subject to this section.

3. As used in this section:

EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

[ ] is old law to be omitted.

LBD04004-01-7

A. 1547 2

(a) "closed captioning" shall mean a feature on a television that when activated will visually display a transcription of the audio portion of video programming; and

(b) "public area" shall mean the section of a place of public accommodation, resort or amusement that is open to the general public.

§ 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2018.

Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.

Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.