SB 5486 — Concerning open motion picture captioning in motion picture theaters.

ENGROSSEDS-0795.1 SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5486 State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session By Senate Law & Justice (originally sponsored by Senators Orwall, Dhingra, Nobles, and Trudeau)Trudeau READRead FIRSTfirst TIMEtime 02/07/25.01/24/25.

ANReferred ACT Relating to motionCommittee pictureon captioningLaw in& motionJustice. picture theaters;

AN ACT Relating to open motion picture captioning in motion picture theaters;

prescribing penalties;

(1) A place of public accommodation that is a motion picture theater shall provide access to fully operational and well–maintained closed motion picture captioning technology for the general public for each screening of a motion picture that is produced and available with closed motion picture captioning as required by Title III of the federal Americans with disabilities act.

(2) IfA aplace motionof picturepublic isaccommodation producedthat withcontrols, openoperates, captioningowns, contentor andleases distributed to motion picture theaters, a motion picture theater companywith thatsix controls,or operates,more owns,screens orin leasesthe fivestate orshall, morefor each motion picture theatersit inscreens thethat stateis shallproduced provideand openavailable captioningwith screeningsopen ofcaptioning, suchprovide motionopen picturecaptioning thatfor has at least fivetwo scheduled screenings atof thatthe theater,motion providedpicture thatwithin theeach theaterof hasthe digitalfirst projectiontwo systemsweeks thatof supportthe openmotion captioningpicture's files.release.

Such(a) openAt captioningleast screeningsone mustopen-captioned occurscreening withinmust eachtake ofplace theduring timepeak periodsweekend sethours. forth below:

For purposes of this subsection (2)(a), "peak p.

1 ESSBSB 5486 (a)weekend Withinhours" eachmeans of the first two weeks of such a motion picture's release, the motion picture theater shall provide at least two open captioning screenings, of which at least one must begin between 5:59 p.m.

(b) WithinAfter each week after the first two weeks of such a motion picture's release, the motion picture theater shall provide at least one openweekly captioning screening permust week,be whichopen-captioned mustand beginscreened betweenduring 5:59peak p.m.hours.

For purposes of this subsection (2)(b), "peak hours" means between 5:59 p.m.

(3) IfA a motion picture istheater produced with openfive captioning content and distributed to motion picture theaters, a motion picture theater company that controls, operates, owns, or leases four or fewer motionscreens picturemust: theaters in the state shall, at each theater that has digital projection systems that support open captioning files:

(a) Provide an openopen-captioned captioning screening within five72 calendarhours days after receiving a request;

or (b) Offer open captioning consistent with the requirements for motion picture theaters inwith subsectionsix (2)or ofmore thisscreens. section.

(4) NothingMotion inpicture thistheaters section shall preventprovide acontact motioninformation pictureon theatertheir fromwebsites offeringfor morethe openpurposes captioningof screeningsfulfilling thanrequests requiredfor byopen- subsectionscaptioned (2)screenings. and (3) of this section.

(5) MotionA screening of a motion picture theaterswith shallopen providecaptioning contactthat informationoverlaps onwith theiranother websitesscreening forof a motion picture with open captioning may not be counted toward the purposeminimum number of receivingscreenings andrequired fulfillingby requeststhis forsection, openexcept captioningwhere screenings.it is not practicable to avoid such overlap.

(6) IfA anmotion openpicture captioningtheater screeningshall ofadvertise athe motiondate pictureand overlapstime withof oneopen-captioned orscreenings morerequired otherby openthis captioningsection screeningsin of the same motionmanner pictureas at the same motion picture theater,theater noadvertises moreall thanother one such motion picture screeningscreenings mayand beindicate countedwhich toward the minimum number of screenings requiredwill byinclude thisopen section,captioning. except where it is not practicable to avoid such overlap.

(7) A motion picture theater shall advertise the date and time of open captioning screenings in the same manner as the motion picture theater advertises all other motion picture screenings and indicate which screenings will include open captioning by using the character symbol "OC." (8) A motion picture theater shall maintain documents sufficient to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of this section for a period of at least one year.

(8) A motion picture theater that fails to comply with the requirements of this section is subject to a civil fine of up to $100 for each violation.

Written notice of the violation must be provided to the motion picture theater and must state that the fine will be assessed.

The notice must also state that the motion picture theater may cure the violation by complying with the requirement within 30 days after delivery of the notice.

If the motion picture theater demonstrates compliance within the 30-day period, the fine may not be assessed and the violation must be dismissed.

Any subsequent violation results in a civil fine of up to $500.

2 ESSBSB 5486 (9) ThisThe sectionhuman doesrights notcommission applymust toprepare drive-inan theaters.educational pamphlet advising motion picture theaters of their duty and liability under this section.

The pamphlet must clarify the differences between closed captioning and open captioning and how motion picture theaters should advertise open-captioned screenings.

The pamphlet should be made available online.

(a) "Closed captioning" means the written display of a movie'stranscript or dialogue orof transcriptthe andaudio mayportion includeof nonspeecha informationmotion suchpicture asthat music,is characterdisplayed identities,on andeither otherthe soundsbottom or soundtop effectsportion by means of a personalmotion captioningpicture devicescreen. that delivers captions to individual patrons.

(c) "Motion"Open picturecaptioning" theatermeans company"the meanswritten, anyon-screen individualdisplay orof businessa entitymotion thatpicture's operatesdialogue oneand nonspeech information, which may include music, the identity of the character speaking, or moreother motionsounds pictureand theaters.sound effects.

(d) "Open captioning" means the written, on-screen display of a motion picture's dialogue and nonspeech information, which may include music, the identity of the character speaking, or other sounds and sound effects.

3 ESSBSB 5486