New Open Captioning Law in Hawaii
A new open captioning law in Hawaii mandates theaters play at least two showings per week of each movie produced with open captioning. Click here to read more.
Television Captioning Ordinance in Portland, Oregon
On November 18, 2015, the Portland City Council passed an ordinance requiring all TVs in public places to have captioning turned on during business hours. This ordinance became effective on December 18, 2015. A website has been developed to serve as a resource to businesses, consumers (i.e., users of captioning) and the general public. The website is CaptionsOnNow.net
New Mexico Advocates for Legislation to Help People with Hearing Loss
The Committee for Communication Access (CCA) in New Mexico has been formed by the three New Mexico HLAA Chapters and the New Mexico Commission for Deaf and Hard of Hearing. They are currently campaigning for revisions to certain New Mexico rules and regulations applicable to the needs of those consumers to have good access to the assistive listening systems in many public venues. Bills are being drafted for introduction to both the New Mexico House and the Senate that would mandate that, before the sale and dispensing of hearing instruments to any client, a New Mexico hearing care provider counsel the client in the technology available in hearing instruments that will provide a direct connection between their device and the assistive listening system of any public assembly facility that is in compliance with the 2010 revised terms of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). A law in New Mexico would mirror one passed last March in Utah. Arizona, Florida, New York and Rhode Island also have such laws on the books.
The CCA has mounted a Facebook page that includes a simple one-question poll on whether or not you were informed about telecoils on your first purchase of hearing aids or a cochlear implant. You are invited to visit and join the Facebook group and participate in the poll here. The more members CCA has in their Facebook group, the more it will influence legislators. CCA also has a website with background info on telecoil/loop technology and their initiative that includes the most recent draft of the bill, which is in the filing process.