S 9888 NY

0likes☆Favorite🔕SubscribeShare

Skip to main content

New York State Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie

--> --> -->

Assembly Members

Legislative Info

Public Hearings

Speaker's Press

Assembly Reports

Committees & More

Bill Search Home Laws Legislative Calendar Public Hearing Schedule Assembly Calendars Assembly Committee Agenda Javascript must be enabled to properly view this page.

Bill No.: Summary Actions Committee&nbspVotes Floor&nbspVotes Memo Text LFIN Chamber&nbspVideo/Transcript S09888 Summary: BILL NO S09888A &nbsp SAME AS SAME AS A04628-B

&nbsp SPONSOR FERNANDEZ &nbsp COSPNSR ADDABBO, BOTTCHER, COONEY, JACKSON, KRUEGER, MAYER, MYRIE, PERSAUD, SALAZAR, SEPULVEDA &nbsp MLTSPNSR &nbsp Add Art 44-C §§1450 - 1454, Gen Bus L &nbsp Requires a motion picture theater that offers more than ten motion picture showings per week to provide scheduled showings of motion pictures with open motion picture captioning such that at least one quarter of all showings of a motion picture with four or more showings during a one-week time period shall have open motion picture captioning; provides exceptions and penalties for violations.

Go to top S09888 Text:

STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________

9888--A

IN SENATE

April 13, 2026 ___________

Introduced by Sens. FERNANDEZ, ADDABBO, COONEY, JACKSON, KRUEGER, MYRIE, PERSAUD, SALAZAR, SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Consumer Protection -- reported favorably from said committee and committed to the Commit- tee on Commerce, Economic Development and Small Business -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee

AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to requiring certain motion picture theaters to provide scheduled showings of motion pictures with open motion picture captioning

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

1 Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new article 2 44-C to read as follows:

3 ARTICLE 44-C 4 OPEN CAPTIONING 5 Section 1450. Definitions. 6 1451. Open motion picture captioning required. 7 1452. Violations. 8 1453. Preemption. 9 1454. Exemptions. 10 § 1450. Definitions. For the purposes of this article, the following 11 terms shall have the following meanings: 12 1. "Motion picture" means a story or event recorded by a camera as a 13 set of moving images. 14 2. "Motion picture theater" means an entity in the business of provid- 15 ing showings of motion pictures to the general public. 16 3. "Open motion picture captioning" means the written, on-screen 17 display of a motion picture's dialogue and non-speech information, 18 including music, the identity of the character who is speaking, and 19 other sounds and sound effects. 20 4. "Peak motion picture attendance hours" means the hours between five 21 fifty-nine in the evening and one minute past eleven o'clock in the

EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD02942-07-6

S. 9888--A 2

1 evening on Friday and the hours between eleven twenty-nine in the morn- 2 ing and one minute past eleven o'clock in the evening on Saturday or 3 Sunday. 4 § 1451. Open motion picture captioning required. 1. A motion picture 5 theater that offers more than ten motion picture showings per week shall 6 provide scheduled showings of motion pictures with open motion picture 7 captioning for at least one quarter of all showings of a motion picture 8 with four or more showings during a one-week time period. Provided that 9 no more than four open captioning showings of a single motion picture 10 shall be required in a one-week time period. 11 2. A motion picture that is produced and distributed without open 12 motion picture captioning is not subject to the provisions of subdivi- 13 sion one of this section. 14 3. At least half of the scheduled showings required pursuant to subdi- 15 vision one of this section shall begin and end within peak motion 16 picture attendance hours, unless fewer than one in eight showings of a 17 motion picture is screened during peak motion picture attendance hours, 18 in which case this requirement is met if all screenings of such motion 19 picture during peak motion picture attendance hours have open motion 20 picture captioning. 21 4. At least half of the scheduled showings required pursuant to subdi- 22 vision one of this section that are scheduled outside of peak motion 23 picture attendance hours shall start after five fifty-nine in the even- 24 ing and finish before one minute past eleven o'clock in the evening on 25 Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays, unless fewer than one in 26 eight showings of a motion picture is screened after five fifty-nine in 27 the evening on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays, in which case 28 this requirement is met if all screenings of such motion picture during 29 such times have open motion picture captioning. 30 5. No showing of a motion picture with open motion picture captioning 31 that overlaps with another showing of a motion picture with open motion 32 picture captioning shall be counted toward the minimum number of show- 33 ings required by this section except where it is not practicable to 34 avoid such overlap. 35 6. Nothing in this article shall prevent a motion picture theater from 36 showing more motion pictures with open captioning than required by 37 subdivision one of this section. 38 7. A motion picture theater subject to the provisions of subdivision 39 one of this section shall advertise the date and time of motion picture 40 showings required by subdivision one in the same manner as the motion 41 picture theater advertises all other motion picture showings and shall 42 indicate which showings will include open motion picture captioning. 43 8. Every motion picture theater shall maintain documents sufficient to 44 demonstrate compliance with the requirements of this article for a peri- 45 od of at least three years. 46 § 1452. Violations. Any motion picture theater that violates any of 47 the provisions of this article shall be subject to a civil penalty of up 48 to one hundred dollars for the first violation, and up to five hundred 49 dollars for each subsequent violation. 50 § 1453. Preemption. The provisions of this article are cumulative and 51 supplemental and shall not apply within any municipality that, by ordi- 52 nance or resolution, has adopted provisions requiring scheduled showings 53 of motion pictures with open motion picture captioning that are equal to 54 or more stringent than the provisions of this article. 55 § 1454. Exemptions. Independent cinemas not affiliated with a cinema 56 chain, not-for-profit cinemas, or any motion picture theater with one

S. 9888--A 3

1 location and one screen showing movies four times or less per week are 2 not required to show movies with open captions. 3 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after 4 it shall have become a law.

Go to top

Sitemap

Request Information

Directions and Maps