I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 241
To amend the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to promote compliance
through education, to clarify the requirements for demand letters, to
provide for a notice and cure period before the commencement of a
private civil action, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY10, 2023
Mr. C
ALVERT(for himself, Mr. WALTZ, and Mr. GROTHMAN) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to
promote compliance through education, to clarify the re-
quirements for demand letters, to provide for a notice
and cure period before the commencement of a private
civil action, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘ADA Compliance for 4
Customer Entry to Stores and Services Act’’ or the ‘‘AC-5
CESS Act’’. 6
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SEC. 2. COMPLIANCE THROUGH EDUCATION. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Based on existing funding, the 2
Disability Rights Section of the Department of Justice 3
shall, in consultation with property owners and represent-4
atives of the disability rights community, develop a pro-5
gram to educate State and local governments and property 6
owners on effective and efficient strategies for promoting 7
access to public accommodations for persons with a dis-8
ability (as defined in section 3 of the Americans with Dis-9
abilities Act (42 U.S.C. 12102)). Such program may in-10
clude training for professionals such as Certified Access 11
Specialists to provide a guidance of remediation for poten-12
tial violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 13
(b) M
ATERIALSPROVIDED INOTHERLANGUAGES.— 14
The Disability Rights Section of the Department of Jus-15
tice shall take appropriate actions, to the extent prac-16
ticable, to make technical assistance publications relating 17
to compliance with this Act and the amendments made 18
by this Act available in all the languages commonly used 19
by owners and operators of United States businesses. 20
SEC. 3. NOTICE AND CURE PERIOD. 21
Paragraph (1) of section 308(a) of the Americans 22
with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12188(a)(1)) is 23
amended to read as follows: 24
‘‘(1) A
VAILABILITY OF REMEDIES AND PROCE -25
DURES.— 26
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‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-1
graph (B), the remedies and procedures set 2
forth in section 204(a) of the Civil Rights Act 3
of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000a–3(a)) are the rem-4
edies and procedures this title provides to any 5
person who is being subjected to discrimination 6
on the basis of disability in violation of this title 7
or who has reasonable grounds for believing 8
that such person is about to be subjected to dis-9
crimination in violation of section 303. Nothing 10
in this section shall require a person with a dis-11
ability to engage in a futile gesture if such per-12
son has actual notice that a person or organiza-13
tion covered by this title does not intend to 14
comply with its provisions. 15
‘‘(B) B
ARRIERS TO ACCESS TO EXISTING 16
PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS .—A civil action 17
under section 302 or 303 based on the failure 18
to remove an architectural barrier to access into 19
an existing public accommodation may not be 20
commenced by a person aggrieved by such fail-21
ure unless— 22
‘‘(i) that person has provided to the 23
owner or operator of the accommodation a 24
written notice specific enough to allow such 25
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•HR 241 IH
owner or operator to identify the barrier; 1
and 2
‘‘(ii)(I) during the period beginning on 3
the date the notice is received and ending 4
60 days after that date, the owner or oper-5
ator fails to provide to that person a writ-6
ten description outlining improvements 7
that will be made to remove the barrier; or 8
‘‘(II) if the owner or operator provides 9
the written description under subclause (I), 10
the owner or operator fails to remove the 11
barrier or, in the case of a barrier, the re-12
moval of which requires additional time as 13
a result of circumstances beyond the con-14
trol of the owner or operator, fails to make 15
substantial progress in removing the bar-16
rier during the period beginning on the 17
date the description is provided and ending 18
60 days after that date. 19
‘‘(C) S
PECIFICATION OF DETAILS OF AL -20
LEGED VIOLATION .—The written notice re-21
quired under subparagraph (B) must also speci-22
fy in detail the circumstances under which an 23
individual was actually denied access to a public 24
accommodation, including the address of prop-25
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erty, whether a request for assistance in remov-1
ing an architectural barrier to access was made, 2
and whether the barrier to access was a perma-3
nent or temporary barrier.’’. 4
SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 5
This Act and the amendments made by this Act take 6
effect 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 7
SEC. 5. MEDIATION FOR ADA ACTIONS RELATED TO ARCHI-8
TECTURAL BARRIERS. 9
The Judicial Conference of the United States shall, 10
under rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or 11
any other applicable law, in consultation with property 12
owners and representatives of the disability rights commu-13
nity, develop a model program to promote the use of alter-14
native dispute resolution mechanisms, including a stay of 15
discovery during mediation, to resolve claims of architec-16
tural barriers to access for public accommodations. To the 17
extent practical, the Federal Judicial Center should pro-18
vide a public comment period on any such proposal. The 19
goal of the model program shall be to promote access 20
quickly and efficiently without the need for costly litiga-21
tion. The model program should include an expedited 22
method for determining the relevant facts related to such 23
barriers to access and steps taken before the commence-24
ment of litigation to resolve any issues related to access. 25
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SEC. 6. STUDY REGARDING WCAG 2.0 STANDARDS. 1
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 2
of this Act, the Attorney General shall complete a study 3
to determine whether WCAG 2.0 standards, accessibility 4
widgets, or providing a telephone number through which 5
members of the public can obtain the same information 6
and services as they would on a website would all provide 7
reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabil-8
ities who are protected by the provisions of the Americans 9
with Disabilities Act of 1990. 10
Æ
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