The Bloomington City Council wants to require establishments with televisions to enable closed captioning during their operating hours.
The council unanimously passed an ordinance to do so at a Wednesday meeting.
The measure was developed in coordination with and is meant to accommodate deaf citizens.
Holly Elkins is the legislative chair for the Indiana Association for the Deaf and a Bloomington resident. She supported the measure through comments she relayed through an interpreter.
Read more: City council rejects sale of Bloomington police station
“There’s many groups who would benefit from having that equal access to the information that hearing people are getting — whether they're in a hospital, whether they're in a medical situation at their doctor's office,” Elkins said.
The requirement applies to businesses, hospitals and any other place that offers services, facilities or goods to the public.
Michael Shermis, the city’s human rights director, said it will be enforced the same as human rights violation complaints. In other words, the city will investigate if a complaint is filed.
Read more: County advances semiconductor manufacturer’s plan for Bloomington facility
“If they refuse to do something like that, then I would probably ask the person that put the complaint into file a formal complaint, just like we do with any form of discrimination, and then we would formally investigate it and talk to witnesses, etc. and then make a finding on that, just like you would do with any form of discrimination,” Shermis said.
However, the city cannot issue fines to non-compliant establishments, according to Shermis.
The city says it will notify affected establishments of the requirement. It’s considering placing decals on their doors to notify the public of the change.
The requirement will not go into effect until the mayor signs off on it.
