Places of Public Accommodation - Open Movie Captioning

EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MATTER ADDED TO EXISTING LAW.
[Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
Underlining indicates amendments to bill.
Strike out indicates matter stricken from the bill by amendment or deleted from the law by
amendment.
*hb0435*

HOUSE BILL 435
D5 6lr2266
CF SB 259
By: Delegate Bhandari
Introduced and read first time: January 22, 2026
Assigned to: Government, Labor, and Elections
Committee Report: Favorable
House action: Adopted
Read second time: March 2, 2026

CHAPTER ______

AN ACT concerning 1

Places of Public Accommodation – Open Movie Captioning 2

FOR the purpose of decreasing the number of screens in a motion picture house above which 3
the motion picture house is required to provide open movie captioning; and generally 4
relating to movie captioning in motion picture houses. 5

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 6
Article – State Government 7
Section 20–306 8
Annotated Code of Maryland 9
(2021 Replacement Volume and 2025 Supplement) 10

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 11
That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 12

Article – State Government 13

20–306. 14

(a) (1) In this section the following words have the meanings indicated. 15

(2) “Closed captioning” means a transcript or dialog of the audio portion of 16
a television program that is displayed on a television receiver screen when the user 17
activates the feature. 18

2 HOUSE BILL 435

(3) “Closed movie captioning” means the written display of the dialog and 1
certain nonspeech information of a motion picture that is generally delivered to individual 2
patrons on a captioning device in a motion picture house. 3

(4) “Closed–captioning television receiver” means a receiver of television 4
programming that has the ability to display closed captioning, including a television, digital 5
set top box, and any other technology capable of displaying closed captioning. 6

(5) “Open movie captioning” means a t ranscript or dialog of the audio 7
portion of a motion picture that is displayed on a motion picture screen that cannot be 8
turned off by a viewer. 9

(6) “Public area” means a part of a place of public accommodation that is 10
open to the general public. 11

(7) “Regular hours” means the hours of any day in which a place of public 12
accommodation is open to members of the general public. 13

(b) (1) On request, a place of public accommodation may not fail to keep closed 14
captioning activated on any closed –captioning t elevision receiver that is in use during 15
regular hours in any public area. 16

(2) This subsection does not require a place of public accommodation to 17
make closed captioning available in a public area of the place of public accommodation if: 18

(i) no television receiver of any kind is available in the public area; 19
or 20

(ii) the only public television receiver available in the public area is 21
not a closed–captioning television receiver. 22

(c) (1) A place of public accommodation that is a motion picture hou se shall 23
provide access to fully operational and well–maintained closed movie captioning technology 24
for the general public for each screening of a motion picture that is produced and available 25
with closed movie captioning as required by Title III of the fe deral Americans with 26
Disabilities Act. 27

(2) (i) This paragraph does not apply to motion pictures screened fewer 28
than five times from Friday through Thursday in a 7 –day period in the motion picture 29
house. 30

(ii) This paragraph applies only to the first 3 weeks after a motion 31
picture premieres in the motion picture house. 32

(iii) If a motion picture is produced and available to motion picture 33
houses with open movie captioning, a place of public accommodation that controls, operates, 34
owns, or leases a motion picture house with [eight] FOUR or more screens in the State shall 35
HOUSE BILL 435 3

provide open movie captioning for at least two screenings for each motion picture it screens 1
each week. 2

(iv) Beginning 3 weeks after a motion picture premieres, a place of 3
accommodation that controls, operates, owns, or leases a motion picture house with [eight] 4
FOUR or more screens in the State may provide open movie captioning with reasonable 5
notice. 6

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect 7
October 1, 2026. 8

Approved:
________________________________________________________________________________
Governor.
________________________________________________________________________________
Speaker of the House of Delegates.
________________________________________________________________________________
President of the Senate.