Bill Text: NJ A2716 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires theaters to reserve certain seats for patrons with hearing loss.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-03-12 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Judiciary Committee [A2716 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-A2716-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman PATRICK J. DIEGNAN, JR.
District 18 (Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Requires theaters to reserve certain seats for patrons with hearing loss.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act requiring theaters to reserve certain seats for patrons with a hearing loss and supplementing P.L.1945, c.169 (C.10:5-1 et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The owner or operator of any theater shall reserve for patrons with a hearing loss, at least one percent of the theater's seats, but not fewer than a total of six seats, situated in the fourth, fifth or sixth row from the stage, in a location within the row that is closest to the center part of the theatrical stage. The owner or operator of the theater shall make at least four of the reserved seats available to each patron with a hearing loss who requests the seats 48 hours or more in advance of each scheduled performance. In this subsection "theater" means any theater, opera house, concert hall, or other hall or place of assembly for a live, dramatic, choreographic, cinematic or musical performance but does not include movie theaters governed by subsection b. of this section.
b. The owner or operator of any movie theater shall reserve at least one percent of each of its theater's seats, but not fewer than a total of six seats in each theater, situated in the seventh, eighth or ninth row from the rear of the theater, in a location within the row that is closest to the center part of the theatrical screen or an alternative location that is better suited for optimal use of a theater's captioning equipment. The owner or operator of the movie theater shall make at least four of the reserved seats available to each patron with a hearing loss who requests the seats 30 minutes or more in advance of each scheduled performance.
As used in P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill): "patron with a hearing loss" means any patron whose hearing is so severely impaired that the person is unable to hear and understand normal conversational speech through the unaided ear alone, and who must depend primarily on a supportive device or visual communication such as writing, lip reading, sign language, and gestures.
2. a. A patron with a hearing loss may file a complaint with the Division on Civil Rights in the Department of Law and Public Safety, to report a theater or movie theater owner's lack of compliance with the provisions of section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill). A patron may also file an informational complaint with the Division on Civil Rights if seats reserved pursuant to section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), are not the best suited seats for lip reading or reading of captions or use of available captioning equipment in a particular theater or movie theater.
b. The Division on Civil Rights in the Department of Law and Public Safety shall promulgate regulations requiring that the seats reserved under this act be made available in an alternative location, if the division determines, based on complaints filed with it, that an alternative location in a theater or movie theater provides for better visibility for lip reading or reading of captions or use of available captioning equipment.
c. Any owner of a theater or movie theater who violates the provisions of this section shall in addition to any other relief or affirmative action provided by law, be subject to any penalties imposed by law for violating the provisions of the "Law Against Discrimination," P.L.1945, c.169 (C.10:5-1 et seq.).
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would require owners or operators of a movie theater or other hall or place of assembly for a live, dramatic, choreographic, cinematic or musical performance to make certain seats available to patrons with a hearing loss. The number of seats reserved would be one percent of the total number of seats available at each scheduled performance, but no less than six seats. This bill designates the seats that would be reserved and provides for the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights in the Department of Law and Public Safety to alter the location of reserved seats in a theater, based on complaints filed with the division. At least four of the reserved seats would have to be made available to each patron with a hearing loss who requests them more than 48 hours in advance of a stage performance or 30 minutes in advance of a movie screening.
