Hey all, the legislative session for 2009 is winding down in Kentucky this week....That means this is the last chance to get the bills requiring movie theaters with 5 or more screens in one location to offer accessibility to captioned movies.  If you are a Kentucky resident, that means this is your last chance to write or call your state senator or state representative and let them know how important this bill is to you.  There has been some movement on it in the last few days, but whether or not it will be enough is up in the air.

So please, take a minute and send an email or make a phone call to your official.  You can find out who they are if you are not sure, by visiting the Kentucky Legilslative Research Commission's website (www.lrc.ky.gov) and click on the "Who is my legislator link" on the left side of the homepage.  There you have the opportunity to look them up by district, name, etc. and find their phone number or email address to contact them at.

Even if this does not pass this legislative session, I WILL be back in 2010 fighting for the same thing, if necessary.  There is some late news regarding the Arizona versus Hawkins case, which was appealed to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, the US Department of Justice has filed a "friend of the court" brief in support of Arizona against Hawkins theaters, stating that the district court was erroneous in it's interpretation of the ADA and requirements, among other things.  This could signal a shift in not only the case, but also in DOJ and the Accessibility Guidelines for the future.  Basically, it could mean that a revisitation of the guidelines for compliance with the ADA could be forthcoming to bring those guidelines more up to date with technology.  We will see what happens.  I'm also told that the representatives of the theater owners (I don't know if it is the national group or just the Kentucky owners) wrote a misleading or misinformed letter to several legislators here in Kentucky against the bill, which caused them to be hesitant to support it.  Some people who have seen the letter from a couple of legislators were able to refute it's allegations, which has added some steam to the late-gathering support.

More later!

Eddie