Gov. David Ige on Wednesday signed a bill into law making Hawaii the first state in the nation to mandate accommodations for the hearing and visually impaired at movie theaters.
House Bill 1272 requires anyone operating a motion picture theater in more than two locations in the state to provide open captioning during at least two showings per week of each motion picture that is produced with open movie captioning. It also requires the theaters to provide an audio description of any motion picture that is produced and offered with audio description. The measure takes effect Jan. 1, 2016, and sunsets Jan. 1, 2018.
The law removes communication barriers and provides equal access to persons who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind or have poor vision through reasonable accommodations at movie theaters. It will also help seniors who have trouble hearing, as well as individuals who are learning English as a second language by providing the written dialogue on screen.