Requires that all candidates for elected local, state or federal office shall be required to caption any video advertisement which is viewed by the general public.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A4962
SPONSOR: Lunsford TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public officers law, in relation to requiring candi-
dates for office to caption their video advertisements
PURPOSE:
This bill requires candidates for office to caption their video adver-
tisements.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 adds section 73-c to the Public Officers Law. All candidates
for elected local, state, or federal office are required to ensure that
any video advertisement or promotion that such candidate appears in
which is viewed by the general public to include captions in a clear and
conspicuous manner.
Section 2 is the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
By requiring closed captioning in campaign videos, New Yorkers who are
deaf/hard of hearing or who have other hearing or processing issues will
be able to be fully informed when making their voting decisions despite
their disability. There are numerous readily available, easy-to-use, and
inexpensive (if not free) options for candidates to add high-quality
captions to their videos making compliance with this requirement incred-
ibly easy.'
About 11.5 million Americans - or 3:5% of the population - have some
sort of hearing impairment, ranging from difficulty in hearing conversa-
tion to total hearing loss." An additional 50 million experience some
level of tinnitus (a constant ringing in the ears). Notably, Rochester
has the highest per capita deaf population in the United States.'"
Federal law currently requires video programming distributors, like
cable operators, to provide closed captioning; however, that is not
universal across all digital platforms, which is a significant gap as
many today stream content on laptops and smartphones and via websites
like YouTube and Facebook. This lack of captions is particularly prob-
lematic when it comes to campaign ads - the way in which candidates for
office often provide information about themselves and their platform
vital to voters' decision-making.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
i Comprehensive information about closed captioning is available from
the Described and Captioned Media Program
(https://vvww.3playmedia.cona/learn/popular-topics/closed-captioning/ ca
ptioning) and the Web Accessibility Initiative
(https://www.w3.org/WAYstandards-guidelines/ guidelines). a US Census
Bureau, "Deaf History Month" (Mar. 13, 2022), available at
https://wvvw.census.gov/library/audio/profile-america/profileodd/profile
-odd-13.html ai The Hearing Review, "Study Confirms that Rochester, NY
Has Highest Per Capita Deaf Population" (Oct. 15, 2012), available at
https://hearingreview.coni/inside-hearing/research/study-confirms-that-r
ochester-ny-has-highestper-capita-deaf-population
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4962
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 27, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LUNSFORD -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Governmental Operations
AN ACT to amend the public officers law, in relation to requiring candi-
dates for office to caption their video advertisements
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The public officers law is amended by adding a new section
2 73-c to read as follows:
3 § 73-c. Video advertisement captions; candidates for office. 1. For
4 purposes of this section, "candidate" shall have the same meaning as set
5 forth pursuant to section 14-100 of the election law.
6 2. All candidates for elected local, state or federal office shall be
7 required to ensure that any video advertisement or promotion that such
8 candidate appears in which is viewed by the general public shall include
9 captions in a clear and conspicuous manner. Such captions may be added
10 by the candidate or may be auto generated.
11 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01041-01-3
