Airline Information and Entertainment Access Act
Bill: S.3333 | Sponsor: Sen. Casey, Robert P., Jr. (D-PA)
Policy area: Transportation and Public Works

Summary:
Airline Information and Entertainment Access Act
This bill requires air carriers (including foreign carriers) to ensure equal access to airline information and entertainment programming for all airline passengers regardless of their disabilities.
Specifically, the bill requires
A civil action may be brought in a U.S. District Court against an air carrier for violations of these requirements.
The Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board must set forth the minimum technical criteria for individual video displays, apps for personal devices, and web portals and websites to ensure that they include a mechanism that allows persons with disabilities to operate them nonvisually.

To amend title 49, United States Code, to improve the accessibility of 
   airline information and entertainment programming provided by air 
         carriers on passenger flights, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Airline Information and 
Entertainment Access Act''.

SEC. 2. ACCESSIBILITY OF IN-FLIGHT SAFETY AND ENTERTAINMENT 
              PROGRAMMING.

    (a) In General.--Subchapter I of chapter 417 of title 49, United 
States Code, is amended by inserting after section 41705 the following 
new section:
``Sec. 41705a. Accessibility of in-flight airline information and 
              entertainment programming
    ``(a) Requirement.--
            ``(1) Programming.--On and after the date that is 180 days 
        after the date of the enactment of the Airline Information and 
        Entertainment Access Act, in providing air transportation, an 
        air carrier, including (subject to section 40105(b)) any 
        foreign air carrier, shall ensure that all visually displayed 
        airline information and entertainment programming available to 
        passengers on a flight is accessible to persons with 
        disabilities, including by providing (or making available)--
                    ``(A) open captioning and American Sign Language 
                option for persons with disabilities when such 
                programming is available to passengers through shared 
                video displays, such as a monitor located in a 
                passenger access aisle;
                    ``(B) closed captioning and American Sign Language 
                option for persons with disabilities when such 
                programming is available to passengers through 
                individual video displays;
                    ``(C) audio description for persons with 
                disabilities when such programming is available to 
                passengers through individual video displays or shared 
                video displays; and
                    ``(D) any aural PA announcement in textual format 
                through individual video displays or shared video 
                displays.
            ``(2) Video displays, apps for personal electronic devices, 
        and web portals and websites.--Not later than the effective 
        date of the regulations prescribed under subsection (c)(2), in 
        providing air transportation, an air carrier, including 
        (subject to section 40105(b)) any foreign air carrier, shall 
        ensure that--
                    ``(A) all individual video displays of visually 
                displayed airline information and entertainment 
                programming to passengers on a flight that are operated 
                primarily by using touchscreens or other contact-
                sensitive controls include a mechanism that allows 
                persons with disabilities to nonvisually operate such 
                displays in accordance with the standards prescribed 
                under subsection (c);
                    ``(B) any apps for a personal electronic device, 
                such as a phone or tablet, that are made available by 
                the air carrier to passengers on a flight and that 
                display visually displayed airline information and 
                entertainment programming include a mechanism that 
                allows persons with disabilities to nonvisually operate 
                such apps in accordance with the standards prescribed 
                under subsection (c); and
                    ``(C) any web portals or websites the air carrier 
                directs passengers to in order to access or pay for 
                inflight entertainment, including the method for 
                referring passengers to such web portals and websites, 
                include a mechanism that allows persons with 
                disabilities to nonvisually operate such web portals 
                and websites in accordance with the standards 
                prescribed under subsection (c).
    ``(b) Civil Action.--
            ``(1) Aggrieved persons.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Any person aggrieved by the 
                violation by an air carrier of this section or a 
                regulation prescribed under this section may, during 
                the 2-year period beginning on the date of the 
                violation, bring a civil action in an appropriate 
                district court of the United States.
                    ``(B) Available relief.--If a court finds in favor 
                of the plaintiff in a civil action brought under 
                subparagraph (A), the court may award to the plaintiff 
                equitable and legal relief, including compensatory and 
                punitive damages, and shall, in addition to any such 
                relief, award reasonable attorney's fees, reasonable 
                expert fees, and cost of the action to the plaintiff.
                    ``(C) No requirement to exhaust administrative 
                remedies.--Any person aggrieved by the violation by an 
                air carrier of this section or a regulation prescribed 
                under this section shall not be required to exhaust 
                administrative remedies before bringing a civil action 
                under subparagraph (A).
                    ``(D) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this 
                paragraph shall be construed to invalidate or limit 
                other Federal or State laws affording to people with 
                disabilities greater legal rights or protections than 
                those granted by this section.
            ``(2) Enforcement by attorney general.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Attorney General may bring a 
                civil action on behalf of persons aggrieved by the 
                violation by an air carrier of this section or a 
                regulation prescribed under this section in any 
                appropriate district court of the United States.
                    ``(B) Authority of court.--In a civil action under 
                subparagraph (A), the court may--
                            ``(i) grant any equitable relief that the 
                        court considers to be appropriate;
                            ``(ii) award such other relief as the court 
                        considers to be appropriate, including monetary 
                        damages to persons aggrieved by the violation 
                        by an air carrier of this section or a 
                        regulation prescribed under this section, when 
                        requested by the Attorney General; and
                            ``(iii) assess a civil penalty against the 
                        air carrier.
    ``(c) Establishment of Standards for Operation of Individual Video 
Displays, Apps for Personal Electronic Devices, and Web Portals and 
Websites.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than 18 months after the date 
        of the enactment of the Airline Information and Entertainment 
        Access Act, the Architectural and Transportation Barriers 
        Compliance Board shall, in consultation with the Secretary, 
        prescribe standards in accordance with chapter 5 of title 5 
        (commonly known as the `Administrative Procedure Act') setting 
        forth the minimum technical criteria for individual video 
        displays, apps for personal devices, and web portals and 
        websites described in subsection (a)(2) to ensure that such 
        video displays, apps, and web portals and websites include a 
        mechanism that allows persons with disabilities to operate the 
        displays, apps, and web portals and websites nonvisually.
            ``(2) Regulations.--Not later than 180 days after the 
        Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board 
        issues standards under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 
        prescribe such regulations as are necessary to implement those 
        standards and shall publish those regulations in an accessible 
        format.
            ``(3) Review and amendment.--The Architectural and 
        Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, in consultation with 
        the Secretary, shall periodically review and, as appropriate, 
        amend the standards prescribed under paragraph (1) in 
        accordance with chapter 5 of title 5. Not later than 180 days 
        after the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance 
        Board issues amended standards under this paragraph, the 
        Secretary shall make such revisions to the regulations 
        prescribed under paragraph (2) as are necessary to implement 
        the amended standards.
    ``(d) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Audio description.--The term `audio description' 
        means a method, process, or mechanism, including a device, 
        that--
                    ``(A) allows an individual who is blind or who has 
                low vision to have access to the key visual elements of 
                visually displayed airline information and 
                entertainment programming (such as actions, settings, 
                facial expressions, costumes, and scene changes); and
                    ``(B) allows that access through the provision of 
                contemporaneous audio narrated descriptions of those 
                elements during the natural pauses in the audio portion 
                of the programming, or during the audio portion if 
                necessary.
            ``(2) Closed captioning.--The term `closed captioning' 
        means a method, process, or mechanism, which may include a 
        device, that--
                    ``(A) allows an individual who is deaf or hard of 
                hearing to have access to the content of visually 
                displayed airline information and entertainment 
                programming; and
                    ``(B) allows that access by displaying, through an 
                individual device or individually used technology, all 
                of the audio portion of the programming (including 
                displaying the dialogue and any narration, as well as 
                descriptions of on- and off-screen sounds such as sound 
                effects, music, or lyrics for music, and information 
                identifying the character who is speaking) as text that 
                can be effectively viewed and controlled by that 
                individual while the individual simultaneously watches 
                the programming.
            ``(3) Person with a disability.--The term `person with a 
        disability' means any person who has a disability as defined in 
        section 3 of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 
        U.S.C. 12102).
            ``(4) Open captioning.--The term `open captioning' means a 
        method, process, or mechanism that--
                    ``(A) allows an individual who is deaf or hard of 
                hearing to have access to the content of visually 
                displayed airline information and entertainment 
                programming; and
                    ``(B) allows that access by openly displaying on 
                the video display on which the programming is displayed 
                all of the audio portion of the programming (including 
                displaying the dialogue and any narration, as well as 
                descriptions of on- and off-screen sounds such as sound 
                effects, music, or lyrics for music, and information 
                identifying the character who is speaking) as text that 
                can be effectively viewed by that individual and other 
                passengers while the individual and passengers 
                simultaneously watch the programming.
            ``(5) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the Secretary 
        of Transportation.
            ``(6) Visually displayed airline information and 
        entertainment programming.--The term `visually displayed 
        airline information and entertainment programming' means pre-
        flight safety briefing videos, live televised events, recorded 
        programming (including television programs), or motion pictures 
        that are available to passengers, for a fee or without cost, on 
        a flight in air transportation.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The analysis for chapter 417 of title 49, 
United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 
section 41705 the following:

``41705a. Accessibility of in-flight airline information and 
                            entertainment programming.''.
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