I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1493 
To amend the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to impose notice 
and a compliance opportunity to be provided before commencement of 
a private civil action. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 10, 2017 
Mr. DENHAM 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 
impose notice and a compliance opportunity to be pro-
vided before commencement of a private civil action. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘ADA Lawsuit Clari-
fication Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS. 
Section 308(a)(1) of the Americans with Disabilities 
Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12188(a)(1)) is amended— 
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(1) by striking ‘‘PROCEDURES.—’’ and all that 
follows through ‘‘The’’, and inserting the following: 
‘‘PROCEDURES.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-
graph (B), the’’, and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(B) STRUCTURAL
BARRIERS
TO
ENTRY 
INTO EXISTING PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS.—A 
civil action for discrimination under section 
302(b)(2) based on the failure to remove a 
structural barrier to entry into an existing pub-
lic accommodation may not be commenced by a 
person aggrieved by such discrimination un-
less— 
‘‘(i) such person has provided to the 
owner or operator of such accommodation 
a written notice specific enough to allow 
such owner or operator to identify such 
barrier; and 
‘‘(ii) beginning on the date such no-
tice was received and— 
‘‘(I) before the expiration of 60 
days after such date, such owner or 
operator failed to provide to such per-
son a written description outlining im-
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provements that will be made to re-
move such barrier; or 
‘‘(II)(aa) before the expiration of 
60 days after such date, such owner 
or operator provided such description 
to such person; and 
‘‘(bb) before the expiration of 
120 days after such description is pro-
vided, such owner or operator failed to 
remove such barrier. 
‘‘(C) SPECIAL RULE RELATING TO STRUC-
TURAL BARRIERS.—An owner or operator may 
not be held civilly or criminally liable under 
Federal or State law for conduct constituting a 
violation described in subparagraph (B) that oc-
curs before the expiration of the 120-day period 
described in that subparagraph. 
‘‘(D) MATERIALS
PROVIDED
IN
OTHER 
LANGUAGES.—The Attorney General shall take 
appropriate actions to make technical assistance 
publications relating to compliance with this 
Act available in all the languages commonly 
used by owners and operators, to the extent 
practicable’’. 
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SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 
take effect on the first day of the first month beginning 
more than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act. 
Æ 
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