State Senate Majority Leader Encourages Quest for Statewide Open Movie Captioning Law  

HLAA NYS President Steve Wolfert and Advocacy Committee Chair Jerry Bergman met on Friday, March 6, with Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins. The Majority Leader encouraged us to reach out to Sen. Patricia Fahy of Albany, Sen. Cordell Cleare of Manhattan, and Sen. Gustavo Rivera of the Bronx in our quest for a lead sponsor of the legislation.

Sen. Fahy chairs the Committee on Disabilities.

Sen. Cleare chairs the Committee on Aging.

Sen. Rivera chairs the Committee on Health.

Lead sponsorship by the three together would be awesome and would greatly help gain passage of a statewide Open Caption (OCAP) movie law.

📞 Phone calls and emails to the three senators are encouraged. Simply ask them to become lead sponsors and introduce a 2026 bill to replace S.2269, sponsored by former Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal last year.

Contact the Senators

Senator Patricia Fahy — Albany

District: (518) 842-2219

Albany: (518) 455-2225

Email: fahy@nysenate.gov

Contact form: https://www.nysenate.gov/senators/patricia-fahy/contact

Senator Cordell Cleare — Manhattan

District: (212) 222-7315

Albany: (518) 455-2441

Email: cleare@nysenate.gov

Contact form: https://www.nysenate.gov/senators/cordell-cleare/contact

Senator Gustavo Rivera — Bronx

District: (718) 933-2034

Albany: (518) 455-3395

Email: grivera@nysenate.gov

Contact form: https://www.nysenate.gov/senators/gustavo-rivera/contact

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Virginia to Become 4th State Requiring Open Movie Captions

Just days ago, Virginia lawmakers moved to require cinemas statewide to schedule showtimes of movies with open captions. Virginia’s bill — calling for captioned screenings of movies shown at least seven times per week — now awaits signing into law by Gov. Abigail Spanberger.

Three states — Hawaii, Maryland, and Washington — plus the District of Columbia and New York City already have OCAP laws in effect. OCAP bills are currently before legislatures in Colorado, Michigan, and West Virginia.

Update - NYS Senate Majority Leader Encourages Push for NYS Open Caption Movie Law