What makes New York City special? NYC is the ONLY place in the mainland United States that has a law that mandates open captioned screenings! This law is effective as of May 15, 2022.

In preparation for this law to take effect, the NYC government set up this website: https://nyc.gov/captions On that page is a link to a PDF guide explaining the law for both moviegoers and theaters, plus two YouTube public service announcement videos.

This law would not have been possible without your support. Unfortunately, similar efforts in other states have not been successful this year:

Maryland’s bill passed the Maryland house, but did not get a vote in the Maryland senate. This bill had a lot of support from the community, but still did not pass.
Virginia’s bill did not make it out of a subcommittee.
West Virginia’s bill did not make any progress.
Washington, DC’s Council re-introduced its ordinance but has not taken any action on it.
Efforts to get a statewide law in a mainland state will continue. Getting bills passed on the state level can take years of effort but it can be done. City ordinances are easier, but still take much effort.

Laws ARE needed. Even though more and more theaters are offering open captioned screenings, many people still live in areas where theaters are not offering open captions. Plus, voluntary efforts are not enough. The problem with “voluntary” is that it means theaters can stop or cut back their open caption offerings anytime without penalty. The only way to protect access to open captioned screenings permanently is through legislation.

So we have to keep things going...change.org/ocmoviesnow.