[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 176 (Tuesday, September 13, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56092-56093]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-19710]


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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: 30-Day notice.

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SUMMARY: The Disability Rights Section (DRS), Civil Rights Division, 
Department of Justice (the Department), 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 30 days until 
October 13, 2022.

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). Written comments and/or suggestions can also be sent to the 
Office of Management and Budget, Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Attention Department of Justice Desk Officer, Washington, DC 
20503 or sent to [email protected]. 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.
    3. The agency form number, if any, and the applicable component of 
the Department sponsoring the collection:
    Sponsor: The applicable component within the Department of Justice 
is the Civil Rights Division.
    4. 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 Disability Rights Section (DRS), Civil Rights 
Division, Department of Justice 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.
    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 
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.
    5. 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. See 81 FR 37643 (June 10, 
2016). The most recent U.S. Census Bureau data, from 2019, estimated 
that there was a total of 1,892 firms owning one or more movie 
theaters. See U.S. Census Bureau, 2019 SUSB Annual Data Tables by 
Establishment Industry, Data by Enterprise Employment Size, U.S., 6-
digit NAICS (512131). 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.
    Estimated average time to respond: 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

[[Page 56093]]

movies that the respondent is showing at any given time. Based on 
information gathered during the initial rulemaking process, the 
Department estimates that respondents will take an average of up to 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.
    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 16,460 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 (1,892 respondents x 8.7 hours/year) 16,460 
hours.
    If additional information is required, contact: Robert Houser, 
Assistant Director, Policy and Planning Staff, Justice Management 
Division, United States Department of Justice, Two Constitution Square, 
145 N Street NE, 3E.206, Washington, DC 20530.

    Dated: September 7, 2022.
Robert Houser,
Assistant Director, Policy and Planning Staff, Office of the Chief 
Information Officer, U.S. Department of Justice.
[FR Doc. 2022-19710 Filed 9-12-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-13-P