I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4256 

To direct the Attorney General to revise certain rules under titles II and 

III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 relating to accessible 

means of entry to pools. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 26, 2012 

Mr. MULVANEY (for himself, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, Mr. JONES, Mr. QUAYLE, 

Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado, Mr. GARDNER, Mr. PENCE, 

Mr. GRAVES of Missouri, Mrs. HARTZLER, Mr. ROSS of Arkansas, Mr. 

BURTON of Indiana, Mr. GOWDY, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. 

CAMPBELL, Mr. LATTA, Mr. AMODEI, Mr. BERG, Mr. RIBBLE, Mr. 

KELLY, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. LONG, Mr. CARTER, Mr. PAUL, Mr. POSEY, 

Mr. FLAKE, and Mr. LAMBORN) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To direct the Attorney General to revise certain rules under 

titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act 

of 1990 relating to accessible means of entry to pools. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pool Safety and Acces5 sibility for Everyone (Pool SAFE) Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) One of the purposes of the Americans with 

4 Disabilities Act of 1990 is to ‘‘provide a clear and 

5 comprehensive national mandate for the elimination 

6 of discrimination against individuals with disabil7 ities.’’ 

8 (2) The Nation’s proper goals regarding indi9 viduals with disabilities are to ensure equality of op10 portunity and full participation for such individuals. 

11 (3) The Department of Justice’s revised regula12 tions for titles II and III of the Americans with Dis13 abilities Act of 1990 recognize that places of public 

14 accommodation should provide access to their amen15 ities to individuals with disabilities. 

16 (4) It is important for places of public accom17 modation to provide access to their amenities, in18 cluding pools, to individuals with disabilities. 

19 (5) Places of public accommodation should pro20 vide access to their amenities, including pools, in a 

21 reasonable, efficient, and expedient manner that ac22 counts for the interests of individuals with disabil23 ities and also considers other legitimate concerns, 

24 such as safety and feasibility. 

25 (6) As they relate to the accessibility of pools 

26 at places of public accommodation, the current reVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:31 Mar 27, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4256.IH H4256

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1 vised regulations for titles II and III of the Ameri2 cans with Disabilities Act of 1990 do not reasonably 

3 or adequately balance the access needs of individuals 

4 with disabilities with other legitimate, and some5 times competing, safety and feasibility concerns. 

6 SEC. 3. REVISION OF RULES. 

7 (a) EXTENSION OF COMPLIANCE DEADLINE.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—No suit may be brought for 

9 a violation of the revised regulations for titles II and 

10 III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 

11 regarding the requirements for places of public ac12 commodation and commercial facilities to provide an 

13 accessible means of entry to pools (28 CFR 36.101 

14 et seq.) that occurred on or after March 15, 2012, 

15 and before the date that is one year after the date 

16 of enactment of this Act, nor may the Attorney Gen17 eral investigate, or initiate a compliance review of 

18 such an alleged violation. 

19 (2) PENDING PROCEEDINGS DISMISSED.—Be20 ginning on the date of enactment of this Act, any 

21 suit against a place of public accommodation or 

22 commercial facility for a violation described in para23 graph (1) brought on or after March 15, 2012, and 

24 before the date of enactment of this Act shall be dis25 missed. 


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1 (b) REVISION OF RULES.—Not later than 60 days 

2 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney Gen3 eral shall revise section 36.304 of title 28, Code of Federal 

4 Regulations, and any other appropriate rules in part 36 

5 of such title to provide that— 

6 (1) a place of public accommodation or a com7 mercial facility that has a pool and uses a portable 

8 pool lift on request shall be in compliance with the 

9 requirement under such rules to provide an acces10 sible means of entry to such pool, even if installation 

11 of a permanent lift is readily achievable; and 

12 (2) a place of public accommodation or a com13 mercial facility that has more than one pool and 

14 uses one portable pool lift on request for all such 

15 pools shall be in compliance with the requirement 

16 under such rules to provide an accessible means of 

17 entry to each such pool. 

18 (c) POOL DEFINED.—The term ‘‘pool’’ means a 

19 swimming pool, wading pool, sauna, steam room, spa, 

20 wave pool, lazy river, sand bottom pool, other water 

21 amusement, or any other man-made body of water to 

22 which part 36 of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, 

23 requires places of public accommodation and commercial 

24 facilities to provide an accessible means of entry. 

Æ 


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