Assembly Joint Resolution
No. 65
CHAPTER 138
Relative to broadcasting emergency information.
[
Filed with
Secretary of State
September 12, 1990.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AJR 65, Polanco.
Broadcasting emergency information.
This measure would memorialize Congress and the President of the United States to require the Federal Communications Commission to develop voluntary guidelines for commercial television broadcasters which clarify the steps that can be taken to provide vital information to the deaf and hearing impaired persons during emergencies and disasters.
Digest Key
WHEREAS, On October 17, 1989, broadcasters did not provide open captions or visual display during television broadcasts of the earthquake disaster to California’s 1,837,645 deaf and severely hard of hearing residents; and
WHEREAS, Deaf and hard of hearing persons in the community had no idea what was happening during the earthquake disaster, and they were not provided with any instructions to follow for their own safety and the safety of others; and
WHEREAS, Hearing impaired residents were in need of access to vital emergency information concerning where to go for food and shelter, Red Cross services, and medical or hospital services; information on fire warnings, transportation and the freeway collapse, gas leakage areas, contaminated water supplies and the necessity to boil water; and how to report missing persons; and
WHEREAS, Because many hearing impaired individuals do not understand sign language, visual communication, especially open captions which are an accurate written description of a dialogue that is electronically transmitted by a television broadcaster, and which is seen on a television screen without the aid of a decoder device, would serve not only the deaf, but also the hearing impaired, including many elderly persons; and
WHEREAS, Organizations and individuals representing deaf and hearing impaired persons should be involved with the planning for emergencies and disasters at the national level; and
WHEREAS, The Legislature finds and declares that current rules of the Federal Communications Commission require that emergency information must be broadcast visually and that this resolution in no way intends to change the mandatory nature of that requirement; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly and Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature memorializes Congress and the President of the United States to require the Federal Communications Commission to develop voluntary guidelines for commercial television broadcasters which clarify the steps that can be taken to provide vital information to deaf and hearing impaired persons during emergencies and disasters; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit a copy of this resolution to the Chairperson of the Federal Communications Commission, to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.