ADA-access bill advances

BY RICHARD K. DE ATLEY / STAFF WRITER

A state bill to educate small businesses about access violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and give them time to fix them before facing costly litigation was unanimously approved Tuesday, July 14, by the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

The bill, SB 251, is primarily authored by State Sen. Richard Roth, D-Riverside.

It now moves on to the Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation.

The bill was created after several small-business owners in Riverside were sued for ADA violations in recent years, often by the same plaintiffs and filed by the same law firms. They complained the solution was more costly than fixing the violations because they also had to hire attorneys and pay damages to settle the lawsuits.