STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1366

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 1272

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 1272, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MOVIE THEATERS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Require every motion picture theater operator in more than two locations in the State to provide open movie captioning during at least two showings per week of each motion picture that is offered for viewing;

     (2)  Require motion picture theater operators in the State to provide audio description upon request of any motion picture that is produced and offered with audio description; and

     (3)  Allow a motion picture theater operator to show a motion picture that is produced and distributed without captioning and audio description if the motion picture theater operation provides notice to the public accordingly.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services, State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Disability and Communication Access Board, Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, Aloha State Association of the Deaf, Gallaudet University Alumni Association – Hawaii Chapter, Hawaii Deaf Surfriders Association, twenty individuals, and a petition with sixty-three signatures.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc.

     Your Committee finds that individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or blind or have poor vision often encounter communication barriers at movie theaters.  According to testimony received by your Committee, movie theaters may make captioning available via the use of various assistive devices; however, these devices are uncomfortable and often hard to use.  Further, some movie theaters unilaterally select and provide only one form of access for persons with disabilities, and that form of access is not always conducive to a comfortable and enjoyable movie theater experience.

     Your Committee further finds that the discriminatory effects of these communication barriers are contrary to the full inclusion of persons with disabilities contemplated by the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended.  This measure proposes to remove these communication barriers and provide equal access to persons who are deaf, hard of hearing, or blind or have poor vision by requiring motion picture theaters with operations at more than two facilities in the State to provide open movie captioning and descriptive narration for at least two showings per week of a motion picture.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Adopting the language suggested by the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission that:

          (A)  Broadens the requirements of open movie captioning and audio description to a public accommodation that owns, leases, leases to, or operates a motion picture theater rather than a motion picture theater operator; and

          (B)  Specifies that showings with open movie captioning and audio description apply to motion pictures that are produced and offered with those features;

     (2)  Inserting a sunset date of January 1, 2018; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1272, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1272, H.D. 2, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

________________________________

GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair