Closed Captioning of TV and Internet Broadcasts of Legislative ProceedingsState legislatures have embraced live broadcasts of proceedings-—via the Internet or TV-—as a way of providing citizens with immediate and easy access to the legislative process. It is sometimes a challenge, however, to make the legislative process accessible to those with disabilities. Several states have taken the lead by providing closed captioning of legislative broadcasts for hearing impaired citizens. Connecticut, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, South Carolina and Washington offer closed captioning of some or all proceedings broadcast on television. Connecticut, the New York Assembly, South Carolina and Washington offer closed captioning of some Internet broadcasts.
In Nevada, the legislature normally provides a sign language interpreter at committee meetings only upon request of a hearing impaired person. The legislature has adopted the same policy for closed captioning of Internet broadcasts, even though the cost for Internet captioning can be up to five times as expensive, according to this article. In South Carolina, funds came from a portion of a fee the state adds to telephone bills to fund programs for the hearing impaired community. In Oregon, a federal grant, matched by state funds, allows the public broadcasting station to do closed captioning of television broadcasts.
See also: Webcasts of Legislative Proceedings
Compiled in April 2003; last update: March 24, 2008
| State |
CC of TV Broadcasts |
CC of Web Broadcasts |
State Notes |
| Alabama |
No TV broadcasts |
|
|
| Alaska |
Limited |
No |
Caption a few events: State of State, some joint sessions, Key Campaign presentation. It costs between $100 - $200 / hour. (April 2003) |
| Arizona |
No |
No |
|
| Arkansas |
|
No Web broadcasts |
|
| California |
No |
No |
Does not do closed captioning, however, has a software program that feeds information to the television project (state version of CNN) and displays members' names and the ayes and noes voting on each bill or question before the body. (April 2001) |
| Colorado |
No TV broadcasts |
No |
|
| Connecticut |
Yes |
Yes, some |
Captioning is available on CTN's TV signal, and for some streaming content on the Internet. |
| Delaware |
No broadcasts of legislative proceedings. |
|
| Florida |
Yes |
No |
The Senate and House offer live cable television coverage of selected committee meetings and daytime Senate and House sessions. "Capitol Update" is aired live Monday - Friday at 5:30 p.m. on the Sunshine Network, and in the evenings on Public Television, closed captioning has been added. (April 2001) |
| Georgia |
No TV broadcasts |
No |
|
| Hawaii |
No |
No |
|
| Idaho |
No |
No |
|
| Illinois |
No |
No |
|
| Indiana |
No TV broadcasts |
No |
|
| Iowa |
No TV broadcasts |
No |
|
| Kansas |
No TV broadcasts |
No |
|
| Kentucky |
No |
No |
|
| Louisiana |
No TV broadcasts |
No |
Louisiana House is currently exploring possibility of CC for television and web broadcasts. (April 2003) |
| Maine |
No TV broadcasts |
No |
|
| Maryland |
|
No |
|
| Massachusetts |
|
Yes |
http://www.masslegislature.tv |
| Michigan |
Limited |
No |
Caption only the governor's state of the state address annually. Also offers hearing assistive devices during committee and chamber meetings upon request. (April 2003) |
| Minnesota |
Yes |
No |
The MN House and Senate provide live closed captioning of all of legislative television programming (floor sessions, committee meetings, press conferences, informational programming, all material broadcast.) CC is provided for the broadcast feed and cable system feed. Nothing on the web. This programming is distributed via an over-the-air broadcast channel in the 11-county Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area, and by satellite feed to 30 or so cable systems around Minnesota. Our broadcast contract includes the requirement that the broadcast partner (Twin Cities Public Television) provides for live closed captioning services of all programming. Uses a local court-reporting service to provide the live closed captioning. The court-reporting firm charges Twin Cities Public Television around $85-90 per hour. Investigated speech-recognition software for TV and the web, but it was significantly expensive at the time, and the quality of the speech recognition was poor. (April 2001) |
| Mississippi |
No |
No |
|
| Missouri |
No TV broadcasts |
No |
|
| Montana |
|
No |
|
| Nebraska |
No |
No |
|
| Nevada |
No |
Yes |
See "Nevada Legislature Develops Web Captioning System for the Hearing Impaired", NALIT Newsletter, Winter 2004 |
| New Hampshire |
No TV broadcasts |
No |
|
| New Jersey |
No |
No |
|
| New Mexico |
No broadcasts of legislative proceedings. |
|
| New York |
Yes |
Yes |
http://assembly.state.ny.us/av/ |
| North Carolina |
No TV broadcasts |
|
|
| North Dakota |
|
|
|
| Ohio |
Limited |
No |
Captions special events only. The state plans to CC everything by 2006. (April 2003) |
| Oklahoma |
No broadcasts of legislative proceedings. |
|
| Oregon |
Yes |
No |
Senate. We closed caption two hours of our daily 9-hour broadcast. The two hours covers some of the floor sessions, but not necessarily all because the session may still be going on when the two hours are up. This captioning is not viewable on the Internet video stream of the same content. The opportunity to do closed captioning came from a company that provides captioning services that applied for and received a federal grant. The state pays the match for the grant so the cost for the service is less, including a loan of an encoder and services of captioners. (April 2001) |
| Pennsylvania |
No |
No |
House. In May 2007, the Pennsylvania House began providing closed captioning service to those watching proceedings on the Pennsylvania Cable Network and numerous news broadcasts. |
| Rhode Island |
Yes |
No |
In 2005, a pilot program was established to provide closed captioning of Capitol Television broadcasts of the House and Senate session. Capitol Television captions both the House and Senate proceedings on a daily basis. (December 2007) |
| South Carolina |
Yes |
Yes |
Captions proceedings for each body for TV. Senate only for video streaming. The state has a small fee added to phone bills designed to fund certain programs such as special phones for the deaf and hard of hearing community. In association with Education TV network, the House and Senate applied for and received a grant to fund start-up and operational expenses for the last three years. Soon we will have CART services readily available for several committee rooms that can be captioned off site as is done for the chambers. Interpreters also available upon prior request. (April 2001) |
| South Dakota |
|
No |
|
| Tennessee |
No TV broadcasts |
|
|
| Texas |
|
No |
|
| Utah |
No TV broadcasts |
No |
|
| Vermont |
No broadcasts of legislative proceedings. |
|
| Virginia |
No broadcasts of legislative proceedings. |
|
| Washington |
No |
Yes |
TVW offers both closed-captioning (CC) and Spanish translation of selected programming. Beginning with the 2007 legislative session, CC coverage will expand to include LIVE legislative session coverage, Legislative Review, Olympia On-Call, and other selected programs. (See press release). |
| West Virginia |
No broadcasts of legislative proceedings. |
|
| Wisconsin |
No |
|
|
| Wyoming |
No TV broadcasts |
|
| Source: Responses to postings on NCSL listservs in April 2003 and April 2001, and NCSL review of Web sites.
Changes or additions? Contact Pam Greenberg, NCSL, 303-364-7700 ext. 1413 or pam.greenberg at ncsl.org.
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