Senator DeFrancisco Announces the Passage of Legislation that Would Enable Persons Who are Deaf to Receive Realtime Court Reporting Services

Senator John A. DeFrancisco today held at press conference at the Onondaga County Courthouse to announce the passage of his bill (S5533-B) by the Senate and Assembly, and to urge Governor Cuomo to sign the bill into law.

The legislation would require that state-funded courts provide Communication Access Real-time Translation (CART) to individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. Through CART, everything said during a court proceeding would be translated through a software feed into real-time captioning, then displayed on a computer or monitor for the hearing impaired person. The bill awaits signing by Governor Cuomo.

Senator DeFrancisco was joined at the press conference by Carlton Strail, a CNY Deaf Community Advocate and Adam Alweis, a Senior Court Reporter, NYS Supreme Court Association.