Hearing on Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility

The House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet held a hearing on the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009 (H.R. 3101) on Thursday, June 10, 2010.

The legislation would update the communications laws to help ensure that individuals with vision, hearing, and other disabilities are able to utilize fully broadband services and equipment and better access video programming devices.

Republicans accused Rep Ed Markey (D-MA) of rigging the discussion to favor people with disabilities. Rep Cliff Stearns (R-FL), the ranking member of subcommittee, honed in on a witness lineup that featured Consumer Electronics Association CEO Gary Shapiro and Jesse Acosta, a retired army sergeant major who lost his vision serving in war. "The gentleman from Massachusetts is setting up a war hero against a person who is the CEO of an association," said Rep Stearns. Pressing further on the issue, Rep Stearns said, "You've got to be very careful not to move on an emotional basis. Creating an emotional setup between a CEO and a war hero isn't the way to do it." Echoing the complaint, Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) accused Rep Markey of "intimidation" after he invited Acosta to directly address Shapiro.

Markey's bill updates technology requirements so that consumer electronics are accessible for people with disabilities. For instance, the legislation would ensure the availability of closed captioning on the latest devices and bring captions to online video. Industry heads and advocates for the blind and deaf split over whether the legislation is ready to move ahead, with CTIA executive vice president Bob Franklin and U.S. Telecom President Walt McCormick pushing for changes to it.