#2040205296 II -4.3200 MAY 7 1992 The Honorable Lee H. Hamilton U.S. House of Representatives 2187 Rayburn Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Congressman Hamilton: This letter responds to your correspondence to the Federal Communications Commission regarding an inquiry by your constituent, (b)(6) concerning the obligations of movie theatres under title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), Pub. L. 101-336. Please be advised that the ADA is not intended to require film makers or movie theatres to provide subtitles for English language movies, according to the committee reports of the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources (Report 101-116 at 64) and of the House Committee on Education and Labor (Report 101-485, Part 2, at 108) (enclosed). I hope that you find this information useful in responding to your constituent. Sincerely, John R. Dunne Assistant Attorney General Civil Rights Division Enclosures (2) cc: Records, CRS, Wodatch, Beard, McDowney:dhj T. 4/22/92 udd:Beard:C.302xx.Hamilton DJ 192-180-05296 01-00730 FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20554 March 26, 1992 U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legislative Affairs 10th & Constitution Avenue N.W. Washington, D. C. 20530 Attn: Carol Crawford Assistant Attorney General Dear Ms. Crawford: Enclosed is a letter from the Office of Congressman Lee H. Hamilton on behalf of his constituent, (b)(6). (b)(6) concern does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Communications Commission. I believe that your office can more appropriately respond to this inquiry than the FCC. Please reply to Capitol Hill office at the address indicated below. Sincerely, Ora Lou Sizemore Congressional Liaison Specialist Office of Legislative Affairs Enclosure cc: Honorable Lee H. Hamilton House of Representatives 2187 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Attn: Marianne Buckley 01-00731 TO:D.C. FROM:PHIL DA:2-10-92 (b)(6) QUESTION REGARDING "THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT." PAGE 10,SECOND Q & A CONCERNING HEARING. IS IT POSSIBLE TO REQUIRE MOVIE THEATRES TO PROVIDE SUBTITLES FOR ENGLISH SPEAKING MOVIES UNDER THIS ACT. 01-00732 Calendar No. 216 101ST CONGRESS SENATE REPORT 1st Session 101-116 THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF 1989 AUGUST 30, 1989.---Ordered to be printed Filed under authority of the order of the Senate of August 2 (legislative day, January 3), 1989 Mr. KENNEDY, from the Committee on Labor and Human Resources, submitted the following REPORT together with ADDITIONAL VIEWS [To accompany S. 933] The Committee on Labor and Human Resources, to which was referred the bill (S. 933) to establish a clear and comprehensive prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability, having con- sidered the same, reports favorably thereon with an amendment and recommends that the bill as amended do pass. CONTENTS Page I. Introduction................................................ 1 II. Summary of the legislation.................................. 2 III. Hearings.................................................... 4 IV. Need for the legislation.................................... 5 V. Summary of committee action.................................21 VI. Explanation of the legislation..............................21 VII. Regulatory impact...........................................88 VIII. Cost estimate...............................................90 IX. Changes in existing law.....................................95 I. INTRODUCTION On August 2, 1989, the Committee on Labor and Human Re- sources, by a vote of 16-0, ordered favorably reported S. 933, the 21-174 01-00733 64 who uses a wheelchair can reach all the books. Rather, a salesper- son can tell the blind person how much an item costs, make a spe- cial order of brailled books, and reach the books that are out of the reach of the person who uses a wheelchair. The legislation specifies that auxiliary aids and services includes qualified interpreters or other effective methods of making aurally delivered materials available to individuals with hearing impair- ments. Other effective methods may include: telephone handset amplifiers, telephones compatible with hearing aids, telecommuni- cation devices for the deaf, closed captions, and decoders. For example, it would be appropriate for regulations issued by the Attorney General to require hotels of a certain size to have de- coders for closed captions available or, where televisions are cen- trally controlled by the hotel, to have a master decoder. It is also the Committee's expectation that regulations issued by the Attorney General will include guidelines as to when public ac- commodations are required to make available portable telecom- munication devices for the deaf. In this regard, it is the Commit- tee's intent that hotels and other similar establishments that offer nondisabled individuals the opportunity to make outgoing calls, on more than an incidental convenience basis, to provide a similar op- portunity for hearing impaired customers and customers with com- munication disorders to make such outgoing calls by making avail- able a portable telecommunication device for the deaf. It is not the Committee's intent that individual retail stores, doc- tors' offices, restaurants or similar establishments must have tele- communications devices for the deaf since people with hearing im- pairments will be able to make inquiries, appointments, or reserva- tions with such establishments through the relay system estab- lished pursuant to title IV of the legislation, and the presence of a public telephone in these types of establishments for outgoing calls is incidental. Open-captioning, for example, of feature films playing in movie theaters, is not required by this legislation. Filmmakers are, how- ever, encouraged to produce and distribute open-captioned versions of films and theaters are encouraged to have at least some prean- nounced screenings of a captioned version of feature films. Places of public accommodations that provide film and slide shows to impart information are required to make such informa- tion accessible to people with disabilities. The legislation also specifies that auxiliary aids and services in- cludes qualified readers, taped texts, or other effective methods of making visually delivered materials available to individuals with visual impairments. Additional examples of effective methods of making visually delivered materials available include: audio re- cordings and the provision of brailled and large print materials. The legislation specifies that auxiliary aids and services includes the acquisition or modification of equipment or devices. For exam- ple, a museum that provides audio cassettes and cassette players for an audio-guided tour of the museum may need to add brailled adhesive labels to the buttons on a select number of the tape-play- ers so that they can be operated by a blind person. The Committee wishes to make it clear that technological ad- vances can be expected to further enhance options for making 01-00734 101ST CONGRESS REPT. 101-485 2d Session HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Part 2 AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF 1990 May 15, 1990.-Ordered to be printed Mr. Hawkins, from the Committee on Education and Labor, submitted the following REPORT together with MINORITY VIEWS [To accompany H.R. 2273 which on May 9, 1989, was referred jointly to the Comm-ittee on Education and labor, the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Com-mittee on Public Works and Transportation, and the Committee on the Judiciary] [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] The Committee on Education and Labor, to whom was referred the bill (H.R. 2273) to establish a clear and comprehensive prohibi- tion of discrimination on the basis of disability, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with an amendment and recom- mend that the bill as amended do pass. The amendment is as follows: Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu thereof the following: SECTION 1: SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. (a) SHORT TITLE.--This Act may be cited as the "Americans with Disabilities Act of 1989". (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.--The table of contents is as follows: Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Findings and purposes. Sec. 3. Definitions. TITLE I--EMPLOYMENT Sec. 101. Definitions. Sec. 102. Discrimination. Sec. 103. Defenses. Sec. 104. Illegal drugs and alcohol. Sec. 105. Posting notices. Sec. 106. Regulations. Sec. 107. Enforcement. Sec. 108. Effective date. 29-939 29-939 0 - 90 - 1 01-00735 108 public telephone in these types of establishments for outgoing calls is incidental. Open-captioning, for example, of feature films playing in movie theaters, is not required by this legislation. Filmmakers, are, how- ever, encouraged to produce and distribute open-captioned versions of films, and theaters are encouraged to have at least some pre-an- nounced screenings of a captioned version of feature films. Places of public accommodations that provide films and slide shows to impart information are required to make such informa- tion accessible to people with disabilities. The legislation also specifies that auxiliary aids and services in- clude qualified readers, taped texts, or other effective methods of making visually delivered materials available to individuals with visual impairments. Additional examples of effective methods of making visually delivered materials available include audio record- ings and the provision of brailled and large print materials. The legislation specifies that auxiliary aids and services include the acquisition or modification of equipment or devices. For exam- ple, a museum that provides audio cassettes and cassette players for an audio-quided tour of the museum may need to add brailled adhesive labels to the buttons on a select number of the tape-play- ers so that they can be operated by a blind person. The Committee wishes to make it clear that technological ad- vances can be expected to further enhance options for making meaningful and effective opportunities available to individuals with disabilities. Such advances may require public accommoda- tions to provide auxiliary aids and services in the future which today would not be required because they would be held to impose undue burdens on such entities. Indeed, the Committee intends that the types of accommodation and services provided to individuals with disabilities, under all of the titles of this bill, should keep pace with the rapidly changing technology of the times. This is a period of tremendous change and growth involving technology assistance and the Committee wishes to encourage this process. (See, for example, the enactment in 1988 of P.L. 100-407, the Technology Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act). Information exchange is one of the areas where there are still substantial barriers, but where great strides are being made. Access to time sensitive print information, wheth- er in the press or in government documents (such as notices of grants and contracts in the Federal Register or the Commerce Daily) is one of the cornerstones of our free society and of equal opportunity and access. It is not coincidental that access to infor- mation was the first guarantee extended by the Bill of Rights. For these reasons, the Committee expects the Federal agencies charged with the implementation of this Act to take special inter- est in being aware of the possibilities relating to information dis- semination and to make special efforts to share this information through technical assistance programs. Programs such as the Newspapers for the Blind Program in Flint, Michigan, a program which has been nationally recognized and is in the process of being emulated, provide an excellent example of what can be done in this area. 01-00736