Friday, January 22, 2010

Captioning Law

A proposed Maryland law would require all bars and restaurants to show closed captioning on TVs. It's now in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. Two members of the committee, Brian Simonaireare and Anne Arundel, want to change the bill. They say it goes to far and they want it to only require closed captioning one television. Another member, Jim Brochin, even suggests the rule could cause fights in bars. But Senator Jamie Raskin suggests the bill should be changed to make owners of restaurants and bars provide captioning when requested. But Senator Lisa Gladden, who can sign, quesitoned how that request would be made by deaf people. The Maryland Office of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is behind the legislation.