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2009 Senate Bill 10 (Increase movie theater mandates)

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  • Introduced by Sen. Ray S. Jones, II on January 6, 2009, to require movie theaters with five or more screens to provide closed captioning for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The bill also empowers the Commission on Human Rights to regulate the process.

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Comments

Introduced by Sen. Ray S. Jones, II on January 6, 2009. New Comment

1) Another unfunded mandate [by Anonymous Citizen on August 22, 2008]
If the state really thinks theaters should have close-captioned for the hearing impaired, then it should plan to pay the cost. It should not forcibly impose that cost on theater owners. As we baby boomers age and become more hard-of-hearing and as the technology gets cheaper, theaters probably will begin to offer that service voluntarily. Meanwhile, I rent the DVDs and use the captions on them at home.

States don't like it when the Federal government imposes unfunded mandates on them, but they are only too quick to impose unfunded mandates on private businesses. And then they wonder why businesses don't locate in their state and why the economy is not stronger!

Instead of spending your time and energy coming up with more burdens to put on private businesses, why don't you try coming up with ways to make the state more attractive to businesses in order to improve the economy and provide good jobs for Kentucky citizens? For example, why don't you implement tort reform in which the loser has to pay the costs and attorney fees of the winner? That would greatly reduce the number of unreasonable lawsuits, encourage reasonable settlements, and would make Kentucky a magnet for businesses.
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2) Bull [by Anonymous Citizen on August 22, 2008]
Enough already of government sticking it's inept nose into private enterprise. ADA has already proved to be a greatly disproportionate cost to the budget of any building project. It's way past time to get government out of private business.
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3) Great! [by Shrinkbuster on August 22, 2008]
This is fantastic! A very good piece of legislation that is past due. It will update the ADA requirements to today's technology that was not available or reasonable 18 years ago. 647,000 Kentuckians are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, and as the population continues to age and mining and other heavy machinery industries continue to flourish, this number will only grow.
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4) Great??? [by Anonymous Citizen on August 22, 2008]
Are you crazy?! This is far from great...it's absurd! I'm certianly not going to pay $11 bucks to go see a film where the bottom third of the screen is covered up with words that I can HEAR! I doubt any other person with normal hearing, i.e. 99% of people, would either. It will result in a wasted, empty movie theater. Consequently, hurting profits. Just another way Liberals want more control over the market.
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5) Good bill! [by Shrinkbuster on August 25, 2008]
Most theaters that do offer this service offer it during special hours (usually late at night around 10:00 or so) and only for one movie at a time. Your statement that "99%" of people have "normal" hearing is flat wrong, as study after study has shown that anywhere from 11 to 16% of the US population has some degree of hearing loss that impacts their life. Why should any deaf or hard of hearing person have to wait until 3, 4, 5 or 6 months after the release of a movie to rent it on DVD? Are they not entitled to enjoy a night at the movies with their family as well?

The aim is to get OPEN CAPTIONS in the movies, which is different from closed captions that you see on TV, and takes up nowhere near the amount of space on the screen that you imply. The movies are usually advertised ahead of time as captioned, so you would have fair warning. Sorry if you seem to be so close minded you can not live with the thought that *GASP* horror of horrors, you might accidentally stumble into a movie being shown for the deaf and hard of hearing. I promise, deafness isn't contagious.


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