[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 178 (Friday, September 13, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48379-48380]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-19864]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

[OMB Number 1190-0019]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed eCollection; 
eComments Requested; Extension Without Change of a Currently Approved 
Collection. Requirement That Movie Theaters Provide Notice as to the 
Availability of Closed Movie Captioning and Audio Description

AGENCY: Civil Rights Division, Department of Justice.

ACTION: 60-Day notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Justice (the Department), Civil Rights 
Division, Disability Rights Section (DRS), will submit the following 
information collection extension request to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA).

DATES: Comments are encouraged and will be accepted for 60 days until 
November 12, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have additional comments 
(especially on the estimated public burden or associated compliance 
time) or need additional information, please contact: Rebecca B. Bond, 
Chief, Disability Rights Section, Civil Rights Division, U.S. 
Department of Justice, by mail at 4CON, 950 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 
Washington, DC 20530; send an email to [email protected]; or call (800) 
514-0301 (voice) or (800) 514-0383 (TTY) (the Division's Information 
Line). Include the title of this proposed collection: ``Requirement 
that Movie Theaters Provide Notice as to the Availability of Closed 
Movie Captioning and Audio Description,'' in the subject line of all 
written comments.
    You may obtain copies of this notice in an alternative format by 
calling the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Information Line at 
(800) 514-0301 (voice) or (800) 514-0383 (TTY).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Written comments and suggestions from the 
public and affected agencies concerning the proposed collection of 
information are encouraged. Your comments should address one or more of 
the following four points:

--Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary 
for the proper performance of the functions of the Civil Rights 
Division, including whether the information will have practical 
utility;
--Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
--Evaluate whether, and if so, how the quality, utility, and clarity of 
the information to be collected can be enhanced; and
--Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are 
to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submission of responses.

Overview of Information Collection

    1. Type of information collection: Extension of Currently Approved 
Collection.
    2. The title of the form/collection: Requirement that Movie 
Theaters Provide Notice as to the Availability of Closed Movie 
Captioning and Audio Description.
    The agency form number, if any, and the applicable component of the 
Department sponsoring the collection:
    Form Number: OMB Number 1190-0019.
    Component: The applicable component within the Department of 
Justice is the Disability Rights Section in the Civil Rights Division.
    3. Affected public who will be required to comply, as well as a 
brief abstract:
    Affected Public (Primary): Businesses and not-for-profit 
institutions that own, operate, or lease a movie theater that has one 
or more auditoriums showing digital movies with closed movie captioning 
and audio description, and that provide notice of movie showings and 
times. Under the relevant regulation, ``movie theater'' means a 
facility other than a drive-in theater that is used primarily for the 
purpose of showing movies to the public for a fee.
    Affected Public (Other): None.
    Abstract: The Department's Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights 
Section (DRS), is seeking to extend its information collection arising 
from a regulatory provision that requires covered movie theaters to 
disclose information to the public regarding the availability of closed 
movie captioning and audio description for movies shown in their 
auditoriums.

[[Page 48380]]

    Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), at 42 
U.S.C. 12182, prohibits public accommodations from discriminating 
against individuals with disabilities. The existing ADA title III 
regulation, at 28 CFR 36.303(a)-(g), requires covered entities to 
ensure effective communication with individuals with disabilities. The 
title III regulation clarifies that movie theaters that provide 
captioning or audio description for digital movies must ensure that 
``that all notices of movie showings and times at the box office and 
other ticketing locations, on websites and mobile apps, in newspapers, 
and over the telephone, inform potential patrons of the movies or 
showings that are available with captioning and audio description.'' 28 
CFR 36.303(g). This requirement does not apply to any third-party 
providers of films, unless they are part of or subject to the control 
of the public accommodation. Id. Movie theaters' disclosure of this 
information will enable individuals with hearing and vision 
disabilities to readily find out where and when they can have access to 
movies with these features.
    4. An estimate of the total number of respondents and the amount of 
time estimated for an average respondent to respond: The Department's 
initial PRA request for this collection relied on U.S. Census Bureau 
data from 2012 and estimated that there was a total of 1,876 firms 
owning one or more movie theaters in the United States that were 
potentially subject to this disclosure. 81 FR 37643 (June 10, 2016). 
The most recent U.S. Census Bureau data, from 2016, estimates that 
there was a total of 1,790 firms owning one or more movie theaters. As 
the vast majority of U.S. movie theaters now show digital movies, which 
typically allow for closed captioning and audio description, to the 
extent that each of these movie theater firms that shows digital movies 
provides notices of movie showings and times to the public about those 
films, they must provide information concerning the availability of 
closed movie captioning and audio description in their communications.
    The Department acknowledges that the amount of time it will take a 
respondent to comply with this requirement may vary depending on the 
number of movies that the respondent is showing at any given time. 
Based on a prior review of movie theater communications, the Department 
estimates that respondents will take an average of 10 minutes each week 
to update existing notices of movie showings and times with closed 
captioning and audio description information. Therefore, the Department 
estimates that each firm owning one or more theaters offering digital 
movies with closed captioning or audio description will spend 
approximately ((10 minutes/week x 52 weeks/year) / 60 minutes/hour) 8.7 
hours each year to comply with this requirement.
    5. Frequency: The Department anticipates that firms owning one or 
more movie theaters will likely update their existing listings of movie 
showings and times to include information concerning the availability 
of closed movie captioning and audio description on a regular basis. 
The Department's research suggests that this information would only 
need to be updated whenever a new movie with these features is added to 
the schedule. This will vary as some movies stay on the schedule for 
longer periods of time than others, but the Department estimates that 
respondent firms will update their listings to include this information 
weekly. In the future, if all movies are distributed with these 
accessibility features, specific notice on a movie-by-movie basis may 
no longer be necessary and firms owning movie theaters may only need to 
advise the public that they provide closed captioning and audio 
description for all of their movies.
    6. An estimate of the total annual public burden (in hours) 
associated with the collection: The estimated public burden associated 
with this collection is 15,573 hours. The Department estimates that 
respondents will take an average of 10 minutes each week to update 
their existing listings of movie showings and times with the required 
information about closed captions and audio description. If each 
respondent spends 10 minutes each week to update its notices of moving 
showings and times to include this information, the average movie 
theater firm will spend 8.7 hours annually ((10 minutes/week x 52 
weeks/year) / 60 minutes/hour) complying with this requirement. The 
Department expects that the annual public burden hours for disclosing 
this information will total (1,790 respondents x 8.7 hours/year) 15,573 
hours.
    If additional information is required, contact: Melody Braswell, 
Department Clearance Officer, United States Department of Justice, 
Justice Management Division, Policy and Planning Staff, Two 
Constitution Square, 145 N Street NE, 3E.405A, Washington, DC 20530.

    Dated: September 10, 2019.
Melody Braswell,
Department Clearance Officer for PRA, U.S. Department of Justice.
[FR Doc. 2019-19864 Filed 9-12-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4410-13-P