On Wednesday, September 29, the City of Santa Fe Governing Body Unanimously Approved Ordinance 2021-21, an Ordinance Relating to Closed Captions. 

The Ordinance requires “places of public accommodation” such as restaurants, bars, hotels, and gyms to have closed captions activated on any television that is available to the public and capable of displaying closed captions.

BACKGROUND: The Mayor’s Committee on Disability (“MCD”) unanimously supported a letter of support for this bill and requested that Councilor Villarreal carry it as the sponsor. The letter from MCD states that requiring closed captions will allow those who are deaf or hard of hearing to be informed of what is being said on the television. The proposed bill is modeled after an ordinance the City of Albuquerque adopted in 2019