New state law eases penalty for minor ADA violations

May 10, 2016

By Reed Fujii
Record Staff Writer 

Legislation to protect small businesses against costly lawsuits and fines over minor violations of disabled access laws, while helping increase access, was signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Jerry Brown.

The reform of the state’s Americans with Disabilities Act rules gives a small business, one with 50 or fewer employees, 120 days to correct any violations found by an access specialist and protect it from any claims during that period.

It also would protect a small business from certain minor ADA violations, giving it 15 days to make corrections without any penalties. Those violations involve outside and interior signage; parking lot striping color and visibility; and detectable warning surfaces (bumpy ground strips).

State Sen. Cathleen Galgiani, D-Stockton, a principal co-author of the new law, said it will help reduce predatory lawsuits and steep statutory fines of $4,000 for any violation.

“There are bounty hunter attorneys who are taking advantage and who are threatening businesses who have made the effort to comply but who do not have a perfect score,” she said Tuesday. “This bill goes a long way to defining technical violations that would not require payment of a fine.”

The law, drafted as Senate Bill 269 and authored by state Sen. Richard Roth, D-Riverside, also would require state agencies to increase the number of certified access specialists, improve ADA knowledge among businesses and make other changes.

”SB269 is a bipartisan, commonsense solution that will guarantee access for disabled Californians by providing small businesses with the tools and resources necessary to comply with state and federal disability access regulations,” Roth said in a statement.

Kim Stone, president of the Civil Justice Association of California, applauded the enactment of the bill, which goes into effect immediately.

“It is the first time in California that a law recognizes there are a number of abusive lawsuits over these minor technical violations,” she said.

But while calling it “a step in the right direction,” Stone said the reform doesn’t address the issues facing businesses with just a few more employees or with other types of violations.

“This is good,” she said, “But if you’re a small business owner, you should still hire a (certified access specialist), you should still get your business checked out, you should still become fully compliant (with ADA rules) because that’s the only way to protect yourself from one of those lawsuits.”

Her association continues to lobby for reforms that would require all types of businesses be notified and given time to repair or remedy disabled access violations before being subject to a civil lawsuit and fines.

Galgiani noted Stockton, among California’s oldest cities and with many older buildings, has a particular problem with disability access.

“Many of those building were built long before anyone had envisioned ADA compliance,” the Stockton Democrat said.

She suggested the laws could be change to recognize businesses that make a good faith effort to obey access rules.

“Clearly, there are many businesses out there where owners have made every effort to comply,” she said. “They should not be subject to these horrific fines which could put them out of business.”

— Contact reporter Reed Fujii at (209) 546-8253 or rfujii@recordnet.com. Follow him on Twitter @ReedBiznews.