Yes, it is another Caption Action 3 update! New York State has gained more cosponsors. Washington state needs more help! Their bill is in the Senate Ways and Means Committee, and your help is needed to get their bill a hearing.
New York
New York State’s Assembly bill 4628 now has five cosponsors! The newest ones are Assembly Member Tony Simone (D) and Assembly Member Larinda Hooks. It is going to be six cosponsors soon; number six will be signing on shortly. When number six signs on, we will edit this to include that Assembly Member. AND New York State’s Senate bill 2269 now has a third cosponsor, Senator Patricia Fahy (D).
Support from Everywhere in New York But…
We do not have any petition signers from New York’s Allegany and Franklin counties. These are the only counties in New York that are not represented on this petition. Do you know anyone who lives in New York’s Allegany or Franklin county that could benefit from open captions? Send them the link to this petition – change.org/ocmoviesnow.
Washington
In Washington state, keep contacting your legislators to ask for co-sponsorship. There have still been no new cosponsors since the bill was introduced. A push is under way to get a hearing for the Washington state bill SB 5486 (https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=5486&Year=2025&Initiative=false – and you can help if you live in Washington state, by calling or emailing your Washington state senators. A full list of Washington state senators including their email addresses, is here: https://app.leg.wa.gov/Rosters/Members/Senate The Washington state open caption bill is currently in the Ways and Means Committee.
The Ways and Means Committee is chaired by Senator June Robinson. She can be emailed at june.robinson@leg.wa.gov and phone messages can be left at 360-786-7674. Senator Derek Stanford is the Vice Chair, Operating and can be emailed at derek.stanford@leg.wa.gov and phone messages can be left at (360) 786-7600. The other Vice Chair is Yasmin Trudeau, vice chair, Capital, and Trudeau is ALREADY cosponsoring the bill.
The committee has 24 members. The committee members aside from the Chair and Vice Chairs, are:
- Frame, Noel (D), Vice Chair, Finance - noel.frame@leg.wa.gov
- Gildon, Chris Gildon, Chris (R), Ranking Member, Operating - chris.gildon@leg.wa.gov
- Torres, Nikki (R), Assistant Ranking Member, Operating - Nikki.Torres@leg.wa.gov
- Schoesler, Mark (R), Ranking Member, Capital - mark.schoesler@leg.wa.gov
- Dozier, Perry (R), Assistant Ranking Member, Capital - Perry.Dozier@leg.wa.gov
- Boehnke, Matt (R) - matt.boehnke@leg.wa.gov
- Braun, John (R) - john.braun@leg.wa.gov
- Cleveland, Annette (D) - annette.cleveland@leg.wa.gov
- Conway, Steve (D) - steve.conway@leg.wa.gov
- Dhingra, Manka (D) – ALREADY cosponsoring
- Hansen, Drew (D) - drew.hansen@leg.wa.gov
- Hasegawa, Bob (D) - bob.hasegawa@leg.wa.gov
- Kauffman, Claudia (D) - claudia.kauffman@leg.wa.gov
- Muzzall, Ron (R) - ron.muzzall@leg.wa.gov
- Pedersen, Jamie (D) - jamie.pedersen@leg.wa.gov
- Riccelli, Marcus (D) - marcus.riccelli@leg.wa.gov
- Saldaña, Rebecca (D) - rebecca.saldana@leg.wa.gov
- Wagoner, Keith (R) - keith.wagoner@leg.wa.gov
- Warnick, Judy (R) - judith.warnick@leg.wa.gov
- Wellman, Lisa (D) - lisa.wellman@leg.wa.gov
- Wilson, Claire (D) - claire.wilson@leg.wa.gov
Support from Everywhere in Washington But…
Washington state has 39 counties; the Caption Action 3 petition has signatures from almost 90 percent of those counties. However, we do not have any petition signers from Washington state’s Okanogan County, and these three small counties: Columbia County, Ferry County, and Garfield County. If you know anyone in those counties who could benefit from open captions, send them the link to this petition.
Always…
Share this petition on your social media or via email and text! change.org/ocmoviesnow is super easy to remember.