Justice publishes notice of proposed rules for Title II and Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

On June 17, 2008, the U.S. Department of Justice published concurrent notices of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register in order to adopt enforceable accessibility standards under the ADA that are consistent with the minimum guidelines and requirements issued by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board. The Amendments are intended to provide greater consistency between the ADA and other federal and state accessibility requirements, the DOJ said.

The Justice NPRM to amend its Title II regulations is in the Federal Register: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-12622.pdf

The Justice NPRM to amend its Title III regulations is in the Federal Register: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-12623.pdf

All comments are due August 18, 2008. After considering the comments, Justice will issue final rules.

The following was excerpted from the New York Times by Robert Pear

The 215,000 word proposal includes these new requirements:

• Courts would have to provide a lift or a ramp to ensure that people who use wheelchairs could get into the witness stand, which is usually elevated from floor level.
• Auditoriums would have to provide a lift or a ramp so people who use wheelchairs could "participate fully and equally in graduation exercises and other events" at which members of the audience have direct access to the stage.
• Any sports stadium with a seating capacity of 25,000 or more would have to provide safety and emergency information by posting written messages on scoreboards and video monitors. This would alert people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
• Theaters must provide specified numbers of seats for people who who use wheelchairs (at least 5 in a 300-seat facility). Viewing angles to the screen or stage must be "equivalent to or better than the average viewing angles provided to all other spectators."
• Light switches in a hotel room could not be more than 48" high. The current maximum is 54".
• Hotels must allow people with disabilities to reserve accessible guest rooms, and they must honor these reservations to the same degree they guarantee other room reservations.
• At least 25% of the railings at fishing piers would have to be no more than 34" high so that a person using a wheelchair could fish over the railing.
• At least half of the holes on miniature golf courses must be accessible to people who use wheelchairs, and these holes must be connected by a continuous, unobstructed path.
• A new swimming pool with a perimeter of more than 300 ft. would have to provide "at least 2 accessible means of entry," like a gentle sloping ramp or a chair lift.
• New playgrounds would have to provide access to slides, swings, and other play equipment for children who use wheelchairs.

The proposed rules affirm the right of people with disabilities to use guide dogs and other service animals in public places, but they tighten the definition to exclude certain species.

The proposed rules define a service animal as "any dog or other common domestic animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks: for a person with a physical or mental disability." Under this definition, Justice says, says, monkeys could not qualify as service animals, nor would reptiles; amphibians; rabbits, ferrets and rodents; or most farm animals.

Under the proposed rules, a hotel, restaurant, theater, store or public park could ask a person with a disability to remove a service animal if the animal was out of control or not housebroken, or if it posed a direct threat to the health or safety of others. By way of example, Justice says that a theater could exclude a dog that disrupted a live performance by repeated barking.

The rules confirm that people with disabilities can use traditional wheelchairs, power wheelchairs and electric scooters in any public areas open to pedestrians. But shopping centers, amusement parks and other public places could impose reasonable restrictions on 2-wheeled Segway vehicles, golf carts and "other power-driven mobility devices" used by people with disabilities.

For a critical review of the proposed regulations, read Steve Gold's comments at: http://www.stevegoldada.com/stevegoldada/archive.php?mode=A&id=250;&sort=D