I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4719 

To amend the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to require notice 

and a compliance opportunity to be provided before commencement of 

a private civil action related to public accommodations, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 7, 2016 

Mr. MCNERNEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to 

require notice and a compliance opportunity to be provided before commencement of a private civil action related to public accommodations, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Correcting Obstruc5 tions to Mediate, Prevent, and Limit Inaccessibility Act’’ 

6 or the ‘‘COMPLI Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. NOTICE AND COMPLIANCE OPPORTUNITY UNDER 

2 THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT. 

3 Section 308(a)(1) of the Americans with Disabilities 

4 Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12188(a)(1)) is amended— 

5 (1) by striking ‘‘PROCEDURES.—’’ and all that 

6 follows through ‘‘The’’, and inserting the following: 

7 ‘‘PROCEDURES.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara9 graph (B), the’’; and 

10 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(B) NOTICE AND COMPLIANCE OPPOR12 TUNITY.—A civil action for discrimination de13 scribed in section 302(b)(2) may not be com14 menced by a person aggrieved by such discrimi15 nation unless— 

16 ‘‘(i) such person has provided to the 

17 owner or operator of such accommodation 

18 a written notice by certified mail specific 

19 enough to allow such owner or operator to 

20 identify such barrier; 

21 ‘‘(ii) such notice shall include the date 

22 and time that such person was denied ac23 cess to the public accommodation as a re24 sult of the barrier; 

25 ‘‘(iii) such notice specifies that the 

26 owner or operator has 90 days to remove 


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1 the barrier or correct the violation before a 

2 civil action will be brought; 

3 ‘‘(iv) such owner or operator failed to 

4 remove such barrier or correct such viola5 tion within 90 days beginning on the date 

6 such notice was received; 

7 ‘‘(v) the civil action states that the 

8 person bringing the action has notified the 

9 owner or operator against whom the action 

10 is brought of the violation as required 

11 under this subparagraph and such owner 

12 or operator has not corrected the alleged 

13 violation within the 90-day period; and 

14 ‘‘(vi) the person filing the civil action 

15 has refrained from sending any demand 

16 letter (other than the notice described in 

17 this subparagraph), request for settlement, 

18 or other communication to the owner or 

19 operator of such accommodation during 

20 such 90-day period. 

21 ‘‘(C) NOTIFICATION OF CORRECTIVE AC22 TION.— 

23 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—An owner or oper24 ator of a public accommodation who is pro25 vided notice described in subparagraph (B) 


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1 shall provide reasonable notification to the 

2 public of the alleged violation that is the 

3 subject of the notice and of the steps being 

4 taken by such owner or operator to remedy 

5 the basis for such alleged violation. 

6 ‘‘(ii) PENALTY FOR NONCOMPLI7 ANCE.—An owner or operator who does 

8 not provide such notification to the public 

9 within 15 days after receiving notice of the 

10 alleged violation shall not be entitled to the 

11 90-day period to remove the barrier or cor12 rect the violation as set forth in subpara13 graph (B) and a civil action for discrimina14 tion described in section 302(b)(2) based 

15 on the alleged violation may be commenced 

16 immediately after such 15 days. 

17 ‘‘(D) GOOD FAITH EFFORT.— 

18 ‘‘(i) ADDITIONAL 30 DAYS.—An owner 

19 or operator of a public accommodation who 

20 is provided notice described in subpara21 graph (B) who demonstrates a good faith 

22 effort to remove such barrier or correct 

23 such violation but is not able to do so with24 in the 90-day period provided shall be entiVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Mar 07, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4719.IH H4719

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1 tled to an additional 30 days to comply 

2 with such requirements. 

3 ‘‘(ii) FACTORS.—Factors indicating 

4 such a good faith effort include that the 

5 owner or operator of a public accommoda6 tion— 

7 ‘‘(I) has secured the requisite 

8 construction permits to start the ren9 ovation necessary to remove the bar10 rier or correct the violation; 

11 ‘‘(II) has hired contractors to 

12 complete such construction and has 

13 secured an estimate from the con14 tractor for the date of completion for 

15 such renovation; or 

16 ‘‘(III) has begun any necessary 

17 construction and has worked to mini18 mize delays and complete the required 

19 renovation. 

20 ‘‘(E) LIMITATIONS.— 

21 ‘‘(i) ADDITIONAL ACTIONS.—No civil 

22 action for discrimination under section 

23 302(b)(2) may be commenced— 

24 ‘‘(I) during the 90-day period de25 scribed in subparagraph (B) or, where 


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1 applicable, the additional 30-day pe2 riod described in subparagraph (D)(i); 

3 or 

4 ‘‘(II) while a civil action relating 

5 to the same violation is pending. 

6 ‘‘(ii) DAMAGES.—In an action de7 scribed in this paragraph any damages 

8 awarded shall be limited to a plaintiff who 

9 was actually denied access to or reasonable 

10 use of the public accommodation that is 

11 the subject of such action.’’. 

12 SEC. 3. REPORT ON HIGH-FREQUENCY LITIGATORS. 

13 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 

14 of this Act, the Attorney General shall submit a report 

15 to Congress that analyzes the impact of the notice and 

16 compliance opportunity afforded under section 

17 308(a)(1)(B), as added by this Act. The report shall in18 clude— 

19 (1) a determination of the number of persons in 

20 each State who have filed 10 or more actions alleg21 ing a violation described in section 302(b)(2) of the 

22 Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 within any 

23 12-month period after the date of enactment of this 

24 Act; 


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1 (2) an analysis on whether the notice and com2 pliance opportunity has had an effect on the number 

3 of actions commenced alleging such a violation; 

4 (3) an analysis on whether the notice and com5 pliance opportunity has impacted an individual’s 

6 ability to bring a legitimate good-faith accessibility 

7 claim under such section; and 

8 (4) recommendations on whether a cap on re9 coverable attorneys fees would reduce the number of 

10 such actions brought by individual plaintiffs. 

Æ 


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