Most movie theaters in Hawaii will be required to provide open captioning for hearing-impaired people in at least two movie showings per week per movie under a bill signed into law by Gov. David Ige on Wednesday.
The new law is the first of its kind in the nation, and also requires companies that operate theaters in two or more locations in Hawaii to provide an "audio description" of any motion picture for the blind if that feature is offered by distributors.
The bill was introduced by state Rep. James Tokioka (D, Wailua-Hanamaulu-Lihue), who has a son, Justin, who is hearing impaired. Tokioka said Justin, also known as Pono, would refuse to join the family for outings to the movies because he couldn’t hear the dialogue, making it nearly impossible to follow the action on the big screen.
The elder Tokioka said he was told for eight years the federal government was on the verge of issuing regulations requiring theaters to do more to accommodate hearing-impaired people, and finally "we just got tired of waiting."
The bill requiring showings with captions received strong support from the deaf community across the state, and Pono Tokioka was on hand in the governor’s office in the Capitol on Wednesday to watch Ige sign the measure into law.
"The deaf community feels the same way I do about wanting to go to the movies, but not feeling like it’s accessible," Tokioka said through a sign interpreter after the ceremony. "I didn’t want to go, and I would ask my other deaf friends, and they felt the same way. They just did not want to go to the movies for the same reasons, and so as a group, we felt it would be better to act in a unified way to make a difference."
"If I do go to the movies and I don’t understand what’s going on, I just spent $10 to go to sleep," said Tokioka, 20, who attends the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
The bill was strongly opposed by the Motion Picture Association of America Inc., which has gone to enormous expense to provide hearing-impaired people with special glasses that show captioning and other assistance to allow them to enjoy movies, said John Radcliffe, a Hawaii lobbyist for the association.
The motion picture association argued the new law would be unconstitutional because the captioning requirement "compels speech" in violation of the First Amendment, according to the association’s written testimony.
But, Radcliffe added, the state Attorney General’s Office reviewed that issue and disagreed, concluding that the bill is legal and constitutional.
The motion picture association also argued the bill isn’t necessary because the U.S. Department of Justice is expected to issue new regulations on the same issue this fall that will govern all theaters.
James Tokioka has heard those arguments before, and challenged anyone to try wearing the heavy special glasses that theaters provide to display the captions. They cause headaches, and "after 10 minutes, you’ll take it off, guaranteed," he said.
Movies already arrive in theaters with the capacity to provide captioning, but Radcliffe said there was some concern in the industry that the Hawaii law might start a trend that would spread to other states. However, if the new rules come out as expected, "the whole issue will be moot anyway," he said.
The new Hawaii law takes effect Jan. 1, and expires on Jan. 1, 2018, but lawmakers said they plan to extend the law if federal regulations have not been issued by then.
