IV 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 37 
Recognizing the need to improve physical access to many federally funded 
facilities for all people of the United States, particularly people with 
disabilities. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 16, 2015 
Ms. ESTY (for herself, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. HIMES, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. LAR-
SON of Connecticut, and Mr. LANGEVIN) submitted the following concur-
rent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and 
Government Reform, and in addition to the Committees on Education 
and the Workforce, the Judiciary, Energy and Commerce, and Transpor-
tation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by 
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with-
in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Recognizing the need to improve physical access to many 
federally funded facilities for all people of the United 
States, particularly people with disabilities. 
Whereas, in 2012, nearly 20 percent of the civilian population 
in the United States reported having a disability; 
Whereas, in 2012, 16 percent of veterans, amounting to more 
than 3,500,000 people, received service-related disability 
benefits; 
Whereas, in 2011, the percentage of working-age people in 
the United States who reported having a work limitation 
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•HCON 37 IH 
due to a disability was 7 percent, which is a 20-year 
high; 
Whereas the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to insure that certain 
buildings financed with Federal funds are so designed 
and constructed as to be accessible to the physically 
handicapped’’, approved August 12, 1968 (42 U.S.C. 
4151 et seq.) (referred to in this preamble as the ‘‘Archi-
tectural Barriers Act of 1968’’), was enacted to ensure 
that certain federally funded facilities are designed and 
constructed to be accessible to people with disabilities and 
requires that physically handicapped people have ready 
access to, and use of, post offices and other Federal fa-
cilities; 
Whereas automatic doors, though not mandated by either the 
Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 or the Americans with 
Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.), pro-
vide a greater degree of self-sufficiency and dignity for 
people with disabilities and the elderly, who may have 
limited strength to open a manually operated door; 
Whereas a report commissioned by the Architectural and 
Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (referred to 
in this preamble as the ‘‘Access Board’’), an independent 
Federal agency created to ensure access to federally 
funded facilities for people with disabilities, recommends 
that all new buildings for use by the public should have 
at least one automated door at an accessible entrance, ex-
cept for small buildings where adding such doors may be 
a financial hardship for the owners of the buildings; 
Whereas States and municipalities have begun to recognize 
the importance of automatic doors in improving accessi-
bility; 
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Whereas the laws of the State of Connecticut require auto-
matic doors in certain shopping malls and retail busi-
nesses, the laws of the State of Delaware require auto-
matic doors or calling devices for newly constructed 
places of accommodation, and the laws of the District of 
Columbia have a similar requirement; 
Whereas the Facilities Standards for the Public Buildings 
Service, published by the General Services Administra-
tion, requires automation of at least one exterior door for 
all newly constructed or renovated facilities managed by 
the General Services Administration, including post of-
fices; 
Whereas from 2006 to 2011, 71 percent of the complaints re-
ceived by the Access Board regarding the Architectural 
Barriers Act of 1968 concerned a post office or other fa-
cility of the United States Postal Service; 
Whereas the United States Postal Service employs approxi-
mately 522,000 people, making it the second largest civil-
ian employer in the United States; 
Whereas approximately 3,200,000 people visit one of the 
31,857 post offices in the United States each day; and 
Whereas the United States was founded on principles of 
equality and freedom, and these principles require that 
all people, including people with disabilities, are able to 
engage as equal members of society: Now, therefore, be 
it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That Congress— 
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