I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 620 
To amend the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to promote compliance 
through education, to clarify the requirements for demand letters, to 
provide for a notice and cure period before the commencement of a 
private civil action, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 24, 2017 
Mr. POE of Texas (for himself, Mr. PETERS, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. BERA, Ms. 
SPEIER, and Mr. CONAWAY) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To amend the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to 
promote compliance through education, to clarify the re-
quirements for demand letters, to provide for a notice 
and cure period before the commencement of a private 
civil action, and for other purposes. 
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 Education and 
Reform Act of 2017’’. 
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SEC. 2. COMPLIANCE THROUGH EDUCATION. 
Based on existing funding, the Disability Rights Sec-
tion of the Department of Justice shall, in consultation 
with property owners and representatives of the disability 
rights community, develop a program to educate State and 
local governments and property owners on effective and 
efficient strategies for promoting access to public accom-
modations for persons with a disability (as defined in sec-
tion 3 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. 
12102)). Such program may include training for profes-
sionals such as Certified Access Specialists to provide a 
guidance of remediation for potential violations of the 
Americans with Disabilities Act. 
SEC. 3. NOTICE AND CURE PERIOD. 
Paragraph (1) of section 308(a) of the Americans 
with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12188(a)(1)) is 
amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(1) AVAILABILITY OF REMEDIES AND PROCE-
DURES.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-
graph (B), the remedies and procedures set 
forth in section 204(a) of the Civil Rights Act 
of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000a–3(a)) are the rem-
edies and procedures this title provides to any 
person who is being subjected to discrimination 
on the basis of disability in violation of this title 
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or who has reasonable grounds for believing 
that such person is about to be subjected to dis-
crimination in violation of section 303. Nothing 
in this section shall require a person with a dis-
ability to engage in a futile gesture if such per-
son has actual notice that a person or organiza-
tion covered by this title does not intend to 
comply with its provisions. 
‘‘(B) BARRIERS TO ACCESS TO EXISTING 
PUBLIC
ACCOMMODATIONS.—A 
civil 
action 
under section 302 or 303 based on the failure 
to remove an architectural barrier to access into 
an existing public accommodation may not be 
commenced by a person aggrieved by such fail-
ure unless— 
‘‘(i) that person has provided to the 
owner or operator of the accommodation a 
written notice specific enough to allow such 
owner or operator to identify the barrier; 
and 
‘‘(ii)(I) during the period beginning on 
the date the notice is received and ending 
60 days after that date, the owner or oper-
ator fails to provide to that person a writ-
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