You know how some addict’s can be. A few days sober and then back to some bad old habits.Take the House Judiciary Committee. Earlier this year, this committee rammed through five pieces of anti-victim legislation (class actions, asbestos, fraudulent joinder, Rule 11, and medical malpractice) without so much as a single hearing. Now, just two days back from its August recess, the committee - obviously experiencing some type of withdrawal – has focused on a new target: the disabled.
Today, this committee. again without holding one hearing, will be voting on H.R. 620, a bill that would weaken the 27-year-old Americans with Disabilities Act, described by the ACLU as “the most comprehensive and foundational civil rights law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability.”
The bill would amend the ADA’s public accommodations requirement, changing its entire purpose and intent by relieving non-compliant businesses of the obligation to comply with the law unless and until they first receive a very specific type of notice from an aggrieved individual. Notice must specifically include (1) the address of property where there was a barrier, (2) the specific sections of the ADA that they believe the business has violated, (3) whether the individual requested assistance in removing the architectural barrier, and (4) whether the barrier was permanent or temporary.
What if an individual is blind? Or cannot write? Or simply does not have access to law books? By placing this kind of ridiculous notice burden onto aggrieved individuals, H.R. 620 dramatically weakens incentives for businesses to comply with the ADA.
Moreover, assuming proper written notice is given to a business owner, the owner would have 60 days to acknowledge that there is a problem and once the problem is acknowledged, an additional 120 days to begin to remedy the problem. The barrier does not have to be completely removed by the end of the 180-day period. Instead the business only has to show that there has been substantial progress made to remove or alter the architectural barrier. During this period, disabled individuals would still not be able to access the public accommodation, with no deadline for completion.
As noted by the ACLU, even today,
… people with disabilities still face enormous barriers. People with mobility disabilities routinely find themselves blocked from the simplest of social interactions. They are unable to go to the corner grocery store to pick up a quart of milk because there is a step at the door. They are unable to go to the local movie theatre with their friends because there is no accessible seating. They might be able to get into the door of the local restaurant, but are stymied if they have to go to the bathroom while they are there, because it is the size of a postage stamp.…
The bottom line is that people who use wheelchairs or who have other needs deserve the same right to visit local businesses as any other individual. Forcing people with disabilities to wait months to visit a supermarket or bookstore is precisely the kind of discrimination the ADA was designed to prevent. Businesses have had more than enough “notification” to comply with disability rights law. People with disabilities deserve equal access today — civil rights should not be delayed or tied up in bureaucratic red tape.
H.R. 620 is obviously a step in a very wrong direction for the nation. In other words, no surprise from this very diseased committee.
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