21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act

21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2008 and 2009

This act is designed to ensure that individuals with disabilities have access to emerging Internet Protocol-based communication and video programming technologies in the 21st Century. It calls for an appropriate schedule of deadlines for the provision of closed captioning of video programming distributed to the public over the Internet. The bill introduced in 2008 did not pass. The bill was reintroduced in June 2009 as H.R. Bill 3101. The bill requires that video programming delivered via the Web be made accessible, similar to that of broadcast television. Full text can be found here.