Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB241 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 241
5	5	To amend the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to promote compliance
6	6	through education, to clarify the requirements for demand letters, to
7	7	provide for a notice and cure period before the commencement of a
8	8	private civil action, and for other purposes.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	JANUARY10, 2023
11	11	Mr. C
12	12	ALVERT(for himself, Mr. WALTZ, and Mr. GROTHMAN) introduced the
13	13	following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To amend the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to
16	16	promote compliance through education, to clarify the re-
17	17	quirements for demand letters, to provide for a notice
18	18	and cure period before the commencement of a private
19	19	civil action, and for other purposes.
20	20	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
21	21	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
22	22	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
23	23	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘ADA Compliance for 4
24	24	Customer Entry to Stores and Services Act’’ or the ‘‘AC-5
25	25	CESS Act’’. 6
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28	28	•HR 241 IH
29	29	SEC. 2. COMPLIANCE THROUGH EDUCATION. 1
30	30	(a) I
31	31	NGENERAL.—Based on existing funding, the 2
32	32	Disability Rights Section of the Department of Justice 3
33	33	shall, in consultation with property owners and represent-4
34	34	atives of the disability rights community, develop a pro-5
35	35	gram to educate State and local governments and property 6
36	36	owners on effective and efficient strategies for promoting 7
37	37	access to public accommodations for persons with a dis-8
38	38	ability (as defined in section 3 of the Americans with Dis-9
39	39	abilities Act (42 U.S.C. 12102)). Such program may in-10
40	40	clude training for professionals such as Certified Access 11
41	41	Specialists to provide a guidance of remediation for poten-12
42	42	tial violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 13
43	43	(b) M
44	44	ATERIALSPROVIDED INOTHERLANGUAGES.— 14
45	45	The Disability Rights Section of the Department of Jus-15
46	46	tice shall take appropriate actions, to the extent prac-16
47	47	ticable, to make technical assistance publications relating 17
48	48	to compliance with this Act and the amendments made 18
49	49	by this Act available in all the languages commonly used 19
50	50	by owners and operators of United States businesses. 20
51	51	SEC. 3. NOTICE AND CURE PERIOD. 21
52	52	Paragraph (1) of section 308(a) of the Americans 22
53	53	with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12188(a)(1)) is 23
54	54	amended to read as follows: 24
55	55	‘‘(1) A
56	56	VAILABILITY OF REMEDIES AND PROCE -25
57	57	DURES.— 26
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60	60	•HR 241 IH
61	61	‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-1
62	62	graph (B), the remedies and procedures set 2
63	63	forth in section 204(a) of the Civil Rights Act 3
64	64	of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000a–3(a)) are the rem-4
65	65	edies and procedures this title provides to any 5
66	66	person who is being subjected to discrimination 6
67	67	on the basis of disability in violation of this title 7
68	68	or who has reasonable grounds for believing 8
69	69	that such person is about to be subjected to dis-9
70	70	crimination in violation of section 303. Nothing 10
71	71	in this section shall require a person with a dis-11
72	72	ability to engage in a futile gesture if such per-12
73	73	son has actual notice that a person or organiza-13
74	74	tion covered by this title does not intend to 14
75	75	comply with its provisions. 15
76	76	‘‘(B) B
77	77	ARRIERS TO ACCESS TO EXISTING 16
78	78	PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS .—A civil action 17
79	79	under section 302 or 303 based on the failure 18
80	80	to remove an architectural barrier to access into 19
81	81	an existing public accommodation may not be 20
82	82	commenced by a person aggrieved by such fail-21
83	83	ure unless— 22
84	84	‘‘(i) that person has provided to the 23
85	85	owner or operator of the accommodation a 24
86	86	written notice specific enough to allow such 25
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89	89	•HR 241 IH
90	90	owner or operator to identify the barrier; 1
91	91	and 2
92	92	‘‘(ii)(I) during the period beginning on 3
93	93	the date the notice is received and ending 4
94	94	60 days after that date, the owner or oper-5
95	95	ator fails to provide to that person a writ-6
96	96	ten description outlining improvements 7
97	97	that will be made to remove the barrier; or 8
98	98	‘‘(II) if the owner or operator provides 9
99	99	the written description under subclause (I), 10
100	100	the owner or operator fails to remove the 11
101	101	barrier or, in the case of a barrier, the re-12
102	102	moval of which requires additional time as 13
103	103	a result of circumstances beyond the con-14
104	104	trol of the owner or operator, fails to make 15
105	105	substantial progress in removing the bar-16
106	106	rier during the period beginning on the 17
107	107	date the description is provided and ending 18
108	108	60 days after that date. 19
109	109	‘‘(C) S
110	110	PECIFICATION OF DETAILS OF AL -20
111	111	LEGED VIOLATION .—The written notice re-21
112	112	quired under subparagraph (B) must also speci-22
113	113	fy in detail the circumstances under which an 23
114	114	individual was actually denied access to a public 24
115	115	accommodation, including the address of prop-25
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118	118	•HR 241 IH
119	119	erty, whether a request for assistance in remov-1
120	120	ing an architectural barrier to access was made, 2
121	121	and whether the barrier to access was a perma-3
122	122	nent or temporary barrier.’’. 4
123	123	SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 5
124	124	This Act and the amendments made by this Act take 6
125	125	effect 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 7
126	126	SEC. 5. MEDIATION FOR ADA ACTIONS RELATED TO ARCHI-8
127	127	TECTURAL BARRIERS. 9
128	128	The Judicial Conference of the United States shall, 10
129	129	under rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or 11
130	130	any other applicable law, in consultation with property 12
131	131	owners and representatives of the disability rights commu-13
132	132	nity, develop a model program to promote the use of alter-14
133	133	native dispute resolution mechanisms, including a stay of 15
134	134	discovery during mediation, to resolve claims of architec-16
135	135	tural barriers to access for public accommodations. To the 17
136	136	extent practical, the Federal Judicial Center should pro-18
137	137	vide a public comment period on any such proposal. The 19
138	138	goal of the model program shall be to promote access 20
139	139	quickly and efficiently without the need for costly litiga-21
140	140	tion. The model program should include an expedited 22
141	141	method for determining the relevant facts related to such 23
142	142	barriers to access and steps taken before the commence-24
143	143	ment of litigation to resolve any issues related to access. 25
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146	146	•HR 241 IH
147	147	SEC. 6. STUDY REGARDING WCAG 2.0 STANDARDS. 1
148	148	Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 2
149	149	of this Act, the Attorney General shall complete a study 3
150	150	to determine whether WCAG 2.0 standards, accessibility 4
151	151	widgets, or providing a telephone number through which 5
152	152	members of the public can obtain the same information 6
153	153	and services as they would on a website would all provide 7
154	154	reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabil-8
155	155	ities who are protected by the provisions of the Americans 9
156	156	with Disabilities Act of 1990. 10
157	157	Æ
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