Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2004/09/30/04-21875/civil-rights-division-nondiscrimination-on-the-basis-of-disability-in-state-and-local-government
Timestamp: 2018-11-15 17:40:01
Document Index: 582568773

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 35', 'art 36', 'art 36', 'art 35', 'art 36', 'art 36', 'art 36', 'art 36']

Federal Register :: Civil Rights Division; Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in State and Local Government Services; Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability by Public Accommodations and in Commercial Facilities
Civil Rights Division; Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in State and Local Government Services; Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability by Public Accommodations and in Commercial Facilities
A Proposed Rule by the Justice Department on 09/30/2004
All comments must be received by January 28, 2005.
58767-58786 (20 pages)
AG Order No. 2736-2004
Coverage of Homeless Shelters, Halfway Houses, Transient Group Homes, and Other Social Service Establishments
Changes in Procedural Requirements for Certification of State Laws and Local Building Codes
Appendix A—Proposed Framework for the Regulatory Analysis
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/04-21875 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/04-21875
Start Preamble Start Printed Page 58768
The Department of Justice (Department) is issuing this Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) in order to begin the process of adopting Parts I and III of the revised guidelines implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 (ABA),[1] published by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) on July 23, 2004, at 69 FR 44083.[2] The ADA requires the Department to adopt enforceable accessibility standards that are “consistent with the minimum guidelines and requirements issued by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board” (42 U.S.C. 12186). The Department adopts and enforces standards consistent with the Access Board's guidelines under the Department's regulations implementing Title II (Subtitle A) and Title III of the ADA as the ADA Standards for Accessible Design (ADA Standards). Prior to their adoption by the Department, the revised Access Board guidelines are effective only as guidance to the Department; they have no legal effect on the public until the Department issues a final rule adopting revised ADA Standards. In this ANPRM, the current, legally enforceable ADA Standards will be referred to as the “current ADA Standards,” while the revisions that will be proposed in the NPRM, based on Parts I and III of the revised ADA and ABA Accessibility Guidelines, will be referred to as the “revised ADA Standards.” The Access Board's revised ADA Accessibility Guidelines will be cited as “ADAAG.”
Submit electronic comments and other data to adaanprm.org or www.regulations.gov. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION—Electronic Submission of Comments and Electronic Access for file formats and other information about electronic filing.
Address all written comments concerning this ANPRM to P.O. Box 1032, Merrifield, VA 22116-1032.
All comments will be available to the public online at adaanprm.org and, by appointment, during normal business hours, at the office of the Disability Rights Section, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice, located at 1425 New York Avenue, Suite 4039, Washington, DC 20005. To arrange an appointment to review the comments, please contact the ADA Information Line listed above.
On July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.), a comprehensive civil rights law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability. In 2001, President George W. Bush underscored the nation's commitment to ensuring the rights of over 50 million individuals with disabilities nationwide by announcing the New Freedom Initiative (www.whitehouse.gov/​infocus/​newfreedom). The New Freedom Initiative builds upon the legacy of the ADA by promoting improved access to assistive and universally designed technology, educational opportunities, the workplace, and community living for individuals with disabilities. The New Freedom Initiative also expressly recognizes the importance of ADA enforcement. The Access Board's publication of revised accessibility guidelines is the culmination of a long-term effort to facilitate ADA compliance and enforcement by eliminating inconsistencies among Federal accessibility requirements and between Federal accessibility requirements and State and local building codes. In support of this effort, the Department is announcing its intention to adopt, in a separate Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to follow this ANPRM, standards consistent with Parts I and III of the Access Board's revised guidelines as the ADA Standards for Accessible Design. To facilitate this process, the Department is seeking public comment on the issues discussed in this notice.
Title II applies to State and local government entities, and, in Subtitle A, protects qualified individuals with Start Printed Page 58769disabilities from discrimination on the basis of disability in services, programs, and activities provided by State and local government entities. Title II extends the prohibition of discrimination established by section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (Rehabilitation Act) (29 U.S.C. 794) (hereinafter, Section 504), to all activities of State and local governments regardless of whether these entities receive Federal financial assistance (42 U.S.C. 12131 et seq.). Title III prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in the activities of places of public accommodation (businesses that are generally open to the public and that fall into one of twelve categories listed in the ADA, such as restaurants, movie theaters, schools, day care facilities, recreation facilities, and doctors' offices) and requires newly constructed or altered places of public accommodation—as well as commercial facilities (privately owned, nonresidential facilities like factories, warehouses, or office buildings)—to comply with the ADA Standards (42 U.S.C. 12182 et seq.).
On July 26, 1991, the Department issued its final rules implementing Title II and Title III, which are codified at 28 CFR part 35 (Title II) and part 36 (Title III). Appendix A of the Title III regulation, at 28 CFR part 36, contains the current ADA Standards, which were based upon the ADAAG published by the Access Board on the same date. Under the Department's regulation implementing Title III, places of public accommodation and commercial facilities are required to comply with the current ADA Standards with respect to newly constructed or altered facilities. By contrast, under the regulation implementing Title II, State and local government entities are currently permitted to choose to apply either the requirements contained in the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS) or those contained in the ADA Standards with respect to their newly constructed or altered facilities. For greater uniformity, when the Department proposes to adopt the revised ADA Standards, the Department will also propose to withdraw the option of using UFAS under Title II.
The Access Board was established by section 502 of the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. 792. The Board consists of thirteen public members appointed by the President, of whom a majority must be individuals with disabilities, and twelve Federal agencies designated by law, including the Department of Justice and the Department of Transportation. The ADA requires the Access Board to “issue minimum guidelines that shall supplement the existing Minimum Guidelines and Requirements for Accessible Design for purposes of subchapters II and III of this chapter * * * to ensure that buildings, facilities, rail passenger cars, and vehicles are accessible, in terms of architecture and design, transportation, and communication, to individuals with disabilities” (42 U.S.C. 12204). The ADA requires the Department of Justice to issue regulations that include enforceable accessibility standards applicable to facilities subject to Title II or Title III that are consistent with the minimum guidelines issued by the Access Board (42 U.S.C. 12134, 12186).
The Department of Justice was extensively involved in the development of the ADAAG. As a Federal member of the Access Board, the Department voted to approve the revised guidelines. Although the enforceable standards issued by the Department under Title II and Title III must be consistent with the minimum guidelines published by the Access Board, it is the responsibility solely of the Department of Justice to promulgate standards and to interpret and enforce those standards.
The revisions to ADAAG that were published by the Access Board on July 23, 2004, represented the culmination of a lengthy review process. In 1994, the Access Board began the process of updating the original ADAAG by establishing an advisory committee comprised of members of the design and construction industry, the building code community, State and local government entities, and people with disabilities. In 1999, based largely on the report and recommendations of this advisory committee,[3] the Access Board issued a proposed rule to jointly update and revise its ADA and ABA accessibility guidelines, 64 FR 62248-01 (Nov. 16, 1999). In response to its rule, the Access Board received more than 2,500 comments from individuals with disabilities, affected industries, State and local governments, and others. The Access Board provided further opportunity for participation by holding public hearings throughout the nation. From the beginning, the Access Board also worked vigorously to harmonize the ADA and ABA Accessibility Guidelines with industry standards and model codes that form the basis for many state and local building codes. The Access Board released an interim draft of its guidelines to the public in April 2002, 67 FR 15509, in order to provide an opportunity for entities with model codes to consider amendments that would promote further harmonization. By the date of its final publication on July 23, 2004, 69 FR 44083, the revised ADA Accessibility Guidelines had been the subject of extraordinary public participation and review. Through this ANPRM, the Department is announcing its intention to publish a proposed rule that will Start Printed Page 58770adopt revised ADA Standards consistent with all of the amendments to ADAAG since 1998.
Current Approach. The Department must set an effective date for the application of the revised ADA Standards to facilities that will be newly constructed or altered following the publication of a final rule. When the ADA was enacted, the effective dates for various provisions were delayed in order to provide time for covered entities to become familiar with their new obligations. Title II and Title III of the ADA generally became effective on January 26, 1992, six months after the regulations were published. New construction under Title II and alterations under either Title II or Title III had to comply with the design standards on that date. For new construction under Title III, the requirements applied to facilities designed and constructed for first occupancy after January 26, 1993—eighteen months after the ADA Standards were published by the Department.[4]
Option I: Eighteen months. Under this option, the effective date of the proposed revised ADA Standards would be eighteen months after publication of the final rule—the same time period used for the effective date of the ADA as a whole and for the effective date of the current ADA Standards with respect to new construction under Title III. Although this time period has the advantage of ample precedent, it was originally used in the context of a new law with which there was little or no familiarity or experience. It may be inappropriately long in the current context.
Option II: Six months. Under the second option, the effective date of the proposed revised ADA Standards would be six months after publication of the final rule—the time period used for newly constructed and altered facilities subject to Subtitle A of Title II of the ADA and for altered facilities subject to Title III. The Department is considering this shorter period of time because the changes in scoping and technical specifications to the revised ADA Standards are primarily incremental. Further, those requirements that are new (for elements and spaces that are not addressed in the current ADA Standards) have been developed with extensive public participation and, in some cases, have been available to the public through the amended editions of ADAAG for several years. Finally, the new format and organization of the revised ADA Standards would follow the format and organization of the model codes and should be more familiar to covered entities and design professionals than were the current ADA Standards when adopted. The Department recognizes, however, that because covered entities may have large ongoing construction projects, such entities may need longer than this proposed six-month period to incorporate the final changes to the revised ADA Standards into the design of those projects.
Question 1. Should the effective date of the proposed revised ADA Standards be modeled on the effective date used to implement the current ADA Standards—eighteen months after publication of the final rule—or a shorter period? If you favor a shorter period, please indicate which period you favor and provide as much detail as possible in support of your view.
The term “triggering event” identifies the event or action that compels compliance with the ADA Standards. The Department's regulations implementing Title II (28 CFR Part 35) and Title III of the ADA (28 CFR Part 36) establish the separate triggering events for new construction and alterations that are explained below. The Department's experience to date indicates that these triggering events work well; therefore, the Department is reluctant to change them. The Department recognizes, however, that ADAAG now includes requirements for types of facilities, such as recreation and play areas, that may pose design and construction issues compelling a different result.
Possible Additional Approach. To the extent applicable, the Department intends to continue to use the same triggering event for each category Start Printed Page 58771described above; that is, for new construction under Title III, first occupancy; [5] for alterations under Title III, when physical alteration begins; and under Title II, for both new construction and alterations, the commencement of construction. The Department is concerned, however, that while these triggering events are appropriate for most building situations, they may not necessarily be appropriate for all of them—particularly if there are Title III facilities that do not require building permits or that do not receive certificates of occupancy. The Department is concerned that, as applied to these different types of facilities, the triggering events established under the Title II and Title III regulations may be difficult to apply. Therefore, the Department is considering “first use” as an alternative trigger for such facilities.
As noted above, the Department anticipates proposing revised ADA Standards for new construction and alterations that are consistent with ADAAG. In making this proposal, one of the most important issues that the Department must address is the effect that new or changed ADA Standards will have on the continuing obligation of public accommodations to remove architectural, transportation, and communication barriers in existing facilities to the extent that it is readily achievable to do so. This issue has not been addressed in ADAAG because it is outside of the scope of the Access Board's authority under the ADA. Responsibility for implementing Title III's requirement that public accommodations eliminate existing architectural barriers where it is readily achievable to do so rests solely with the Department of Justice.
The Department's current regulation implementing Title III of the ADA, 28 CFR 36.304, establishes the requirements for readily achievable barrier removal by public accommodations. Under this regulation, the Department uses the ADA Standards as a guide to identify what constitutes an architectural barrier. Once adopted, the revised ADA Standards will present a new reference point for Title III's requirement to remove the architectural barriers in existing places of public accommodation. The Department is concerned that the incremental changes in ADAAG may place significant cost burdens on businesses that have already complied with the ADA Standards in their existing facilities. The Department therefore seeks to strike an appropriate balance to ensure that people with disabilities are able to achieve access to buildings and facilities without imposing unnecessary financial burdens on existing places of public accommodation with respect to their continuing obligations under the readily achievable barrier removal requirement.
Here is an example of how that option would work. The current ADA Standards address maximum side reach ranges, which are required to be no higher than 54 inches. The revised ADA Standards lower that range to 48 inches (ADAAG 308.3). If this option was adopted, a public accommodation, e.g., a hotel chain, that had lowered its light switches to 54 inches or an entity that had lowered its pay phones to 54 inches Start Printed Page 58772would not be required to do further barrier removal to reduce those elements to 48 inches. However, if this option was not adopted, even existing facilities that had complied with the current ADA Standards by ensuring that all required accessible elements were no higher than 54 inches would be required to retrofit those elements to lower them to 48 inches, assuming it was readily achievable to do so. Under both options, however, existing facilities that had not complied with the current ADA Standards (whose required accessible elements were, for example, located 60 inches high) would still be required to undertake barrier removal to lower them to 48 inches, if readily achievable.
Option III: Exemption from specified requirements. The Department is also considering whether to identify particular elements in the scoping and technical requirements in the revised ADA Standards that will not be required for barrier removal. Among the possibilities is the requirement that handrails on stairs must meet accessibility requirements even in buildings that have elevator access (ADAAG 210). Under this option, the Department could determine that entities will not be required, for purposes of compliance with the readily achievable barrier removal requirement, to make handrails on stairs in an already existing elevator-accessible facility comply with the scoping and technical requirements in the revised ADA Standards.
There is precedent for this third option in the Department's current regulations, which currently exempt employee work areas from any obligation to retrofit pursuant to the readily achievable barrier removal requirement. Because the purpose of Title III is to ensure that public accommodations are accessible to their clients and customers, it is the Department's longstanding view that the barrier removal requirement does not apply to areas used exclusively as employee work areas (28 CFR part 36, App. B). The Department intends to continue this exemption in the new regulations but notes that, notwithstanding this exemption, Title I of the ADA requires employers to provide reasonable accommodation for any employee with a disability. Thus, to the extent any provisions in the revised ADA Standards address elements or spaces in work areas, compliance with those provisions with respect to those elements or spaces will not be necessary to comply with an entity's obligations under the readily achievable barrier removal requirement.
The ADAAG section 221 will reduce the number of wheelchair spaces and companion seats required in assembly areas that seat more than 500 patrons. The current ADA Standards provide that assembly areas with more than 500 seats must provide six wheelchair spaces plus one additional wheelchair space for each additional 100 seats. ADAAG provides that assembly areas that have 501 to 5000 seats must provide six wheelchair spaces plus one additional wheelchair space for each additional 150 seats (or fraction thereof) between 501 and 5000. Assembly areas that have more than 5000 seats must provide 36 wheelchair spaces plus one additional wheelchair space for each 200 seats (or fraction thereof) over 5000. Both the current ADA Standards and ADAAG require assembly areas to provide a companion seat adjacent to each wheelchair space.
The Department has been asked whether the regulations requiring the maintenance of accessible features in covered facilities would require existing assembly areas that comply with the scoping of the current ADA Standards to maintain that level of scoping, or if those assembly areas would be permitted to reduce the number of Start Printed Page 58773wheelchair locations and companion seats to the level established in ADAAG. The Department's regulations contain two provisions that would apply to this situation. The regulations implementing Title II and Title III both provide that covered entities are to maintain in operable condition “those features of facilities and equipment that are required to be readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities” (28 CFR 35.133 and 36.211). In addition, the current ADA Standards prohibit alterations that decrease accessibility below the requirements for new construction in effect at the time of the alteration, 28 CFR pt. 36, App. A, 4.1.6 (1) (a). Because these provisions clearly establish that covered entities must maintain only the required level of accessibility, the Department expects that the operators of existing assembly areas who want to adjust the number of wheelchair spaces in their facility to comply with the revised ADA Standards will be permitted to do so.
ADAAG establishes requirements for the design and construction of cells in detention and correctional facilities. The Access Board accepted comments on this issue during two separate rulemaking proceedings: the rulemaking that developed the guidelines for State and local government facilities completed in 1998, and the rulemaking that developed the guidelines that the Department is now proposing to adopt. The Department anticipates that it will propose revised ADA Standards that are consistent with the ADAAG requirements. However, when it adopted these new requirements, the Access Board specifically deferred one decision to the Attorney General. ADAAG sections 232.2 and 232.3 provide that “Alterations to cells shall not be required to comply, except to the extent determined by the Attorney General.” This provision first appeared in the Access Board's 1999 proposed rule. At that time, the Access Board explained that—
Option 2: Permit substitute cells to be made accessible within the same facility. The second option is to modify the alterations requirement by permitting the correctional authorities to meet their obligation by providing the required accessible features in cells within the same facility other than those specific cells in which alterations are planned. This would provide flexibility in deference to the unique circumstances presented in correctional and detention facilities by permitting local officials to choose between providing accessibility in the altered area or providing an appropriate accessible cell elsewhere in the altered facility. This alternative responds to the concern that the ADA's alterations provision as applied to correctional facilities may result in piecemeal accessibility that does not always provide the level of accessibility needed by individuals with disabilities. This option permits correctional and detention facility operators to select the most appropriate location for the accessible cells, while retaining the requirement for providing accessibility at the time of an alteration.
Option 3: Permit substitute cells to be made accessible within a prison system. This option also responds to the expressed concern that the alterations requirement as applied to prisons results in piecemeal accessibility. The Department's Title II regulation requires public entities to operate each service, program, or activity so that the service, program, or activity, when viewed in its entirety, is readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities (28 CFR 35.150). The idea behind this alternative is to focus on ensuring that prisoners who have disabilities are housed in the facilities that best meet their needs. Under this option, correctional officials would not be required to include accessible cells in each facility that is being altered. Instead, they would be required to provide an equivalent accessible cell in an existing facility that is sufficiently accessible to ensure that prisoners can have access to the programs offered in the facility where they are housed. This option would address concerns that have been expressed that piecemeal alterations of cells may result in accessible cells being located in older facilities in which the existing construction provides limited opportunities to provide access to other areas of the facility.
ADAAG now establishes comprehensive requirements for the design and construction of accessible golf courses. In addition to establishing scoping and technical requirements for individual elements in or serving the golf course, section 206.2.15 provides that—
At least one accessible route shall connect accessible elements and spaces within the boundary of the golf course. In addition, accessible routes serving golf car rental areas; bag drop areas; course weather shelters Start Printed Page 58774complying with 238.2.3; course toilet rooms; and practice putting greens, practice teeing grounds, and teeing stations at driving ranges complying with 238.3 shall comply with Chapter 4 except as modified by 1006.2. EXCEPTION: Golf car passages complying with 1006.3 shall be permitted to be used for all or part of accessible routes required by 206.2.15.
The Department anticipates that it will propose to adopt the ADAAG requirements for golf courses. However, the Department is aware that these requirements may raise operational issues that are within the purview of the Department's enforcement responsibilities.
For the first time, ADAAG includes specific scoping and technical provisions that apply to new construction and alteration of residential facilities. Residential facilities are facilities that contain dwelling units used primarily as long-term residences. Residential facilities can be distinguished from transient lodging facilities, which are facilities that provide short-term accommodations used primarily for sleeping (such as hotels). Previously existing ADAAG requirements for transient lodging facilities have been revised. As part of this revision, the Access Board deleted section 9.5 of the 1991 ADAAG, which established scoping and technical requirements for homeless shelters, group homes, and similar social service establishments. This deletion creates a gap in coverage that the Department's regulation must address.
The Department anticipates that this classification will also make it easier for the covered entities to satisfy their obligations under both the ADA and Section 504. The Department believes that many of these listed entities are recipients of Federal financial assistance from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Therefore, they are subject to the requirements of both HUD's Section 504 regulation and the ADA Standards. ADAAG's specifications for the design of residential dwelling units have been coordinated with HUD's Section 504 requirements to eliminate inconsistencies and potential conflicts. The specifications for transient lodging units have not been similarly coordinated.
In ADAAG, the Access Board has established guidelines applicable to a range of fixed equipment—equipment that is built into or permanently attached to a new or altered facility—that is subject to the ADA. The Department intends to adopt regulations based on these ADAAG specifications to govern the installation of newly manufactured equipment in new construction or alterations. Because the Access Board's jurisdiction extends only to the design, construction, and alteration of buildings and facilities, ADAAG does not address operational issues such as the acquisition of previously owned equipment, and it does not address coverage of movable or portable equipment or other personal property such as furniture. These issues are, however, within the jurisdiction of the Department. Therefore, the Department is seeking comments on the issues discussed below.
Previously Owned Fixed Equipment. The Department is aware that some building elements to which the ADA Standards apply, such as ATMs or amusement rides, utilize manufactured equipment that becomes built into the structure of a facility (so-called fixed equipment), which differs from equipment that continues to be portable or movable (so-called free-standing equipment). This fixed equipment may be new for the covered entity, but it is not necessarily newly manufactured. Some businesses traditionally elect to conserve costs by installing previously owned equipment and have expressed their concern that the Department will consider such fixed equipment as new for purposes of compliance with the revised ADA Standards merely because its first use occurs after the effective date of the revised ADA Standards. The Department generally views the installation of previously used equipment in a new location as an alteration, rather than new construction. Therefore, only the elements of the Start Printed Page 58775facility that are actually altered, such as the route to the equipment, the mounting height, or the entrance that provides access to the equipment must comply with the revised Standards. Previously owned equipment installed as fixed equipment will not be treated as new for purposes of compliance with the revised ADA Standards.
Application of ADA Standards and ADA to Free-Standing Equipment. The Department is also aware that the public has expressed some uncertainty with respect to whether the ADA Standards apply to free-standing equipment, such as soft-drink dispensers, video arcade machines, free-standing ATMs, and furniture. Because ADAAG is intended to implement the ADA requirements applicable to the design, new construction, and alteration of buildings and facilities, the revised ADA Standards will apply directly only to fixed equipment—as described above, equipment that becomes built into the structure of a facility—and not to free-standing equipment.
The Department's current regulations implementing Title II and Title III of the ADA address equipment in several different contexts. The definition of “facility” in each regulation expressly includes “equipment” (28 CFR 35.104 and 36.104). Fixed equipment required to be accessible in new construction and alterations is identified in the ADA Standards (28 CFR part 36, App. A). Examples of accessible equipment that may be required are included in the definitions of auxiliary aids in 28 CFR 35.104 and 36.104. In addition, Appendix B to the Title III regulation, 28 CFR part 36, App. B, Proposed Section 36.309, second paragraph, further explains that—
Purchase or modification of equipment is required in certain instances by the provisions in 36.201 and 36.202 [general prohibitions on discrimination]. For example, an arcade may need to provide accessible video machines in order to ensure full and equal enjoyment of the facilities and to provide an opportunity to participate in the services and facilities it provides. The barrier removal requirements of 36.304 will apply as well to furniture and equipment. * * *
Because covered entities continue to raise questions about the extent of their obligation to provide accessible free-standing equipment, the Department is considering whether there is a need for the Department's ADA regulations to contain specific language about the acquisition and use of mobile, portable, and other free-standing equipment or furnishings used by covered entities to provide services. If the Department does address specific requirements for free-standing equipment, it may look to the ADA Standards for guidance in determining whether various types of free-standing equipment are accessible to people with disabilities.
Question 7. The Department invites public comment on its approach to these issues. Because the Department anticipates that it may issue further guidance with respect to the acquisition and use of mobile, portable, and other free-standing equipment and furnishings used by covered entities to provide services, the Department is seeking comment on the question whether such guidance is necessary. If you think that such guidance is needed, please provide specific examples of situations that should be addressed.
Section 4.33.3 of the current ADA Standards requires, among other things, that “[w]heelchair areas * * * shall be provided * * * lines of sight comparable to those for members of the general public.” This line-of-sight requirement has generated considerable debate as applied to stadium-style movie theaters. Persons with disabilities and disability rights organizations have complained to the Department that they are afforded inferior lines of sight when limited to the traditional section of stadium-style theaters. Specifically, they have complained that, due to design considerations particular to stadium-style theaters (such as, for example, typically larger and wider screens), sitting in rows close to the screen in the traditional section often results in a painful and uncomfortable viewing experience, as well as distortion of images on the screen. Movie theater owners and operators, on the other hand, have countered that they satisfy section 4.33.3's line-of-sight requirement by providing patrons who use wheelchairs with “unobstructed” views of the movie screen. The movie theater industry has also expressed its view to the Department that section 4.33.3 provides insufficient guidance for theater designers concerning the placement of wheelchair seating areas in stadium-style movie theaters. Indeed, in 1999, the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) petitioned the Department to promulgate revised regulations specifically addressing stadium-style movie theaters and suggested its preferred regulatory language. The Department responded that it was planning to review and update the current ADA Standards covering assembly areas, including stadium-style movie theaters, upon issuance of the revised ADAAG.
As the entity charged with primary enforcement responsibility for Title III, the Department has played a central role in ensuring that persons with disabilities have full and equal enjoyment of stadium-style movie theaters. Since at least 1998, the Department has consistently and publicly stated through such forums as meetings with movie industry representatives, speeches to disability and business organizations, and litigation in Federal courts, that, when a movie theater company is marketing and selling the enhanced stadium-style movie going experience to the general Start Printed Page 58776public, excluding patrons who use wheelchairs from these stadium sections violates Title III of the ADA. The Department has also emphasized that individuals who use wheelchairs need not be provided the best seats in the house, but neither should they be relegated categorically to locations with the worst views of the screen. Rather, the Department has interpreted section 4.33.3 as requiring a qualitative comparison—including viewing angles—between the view of the screen afforded patrons who use wheelchairs and the views of the screen provided most other members of the movie audience. Such a reading of section 4.33.3, the Department believes, best comports with the plain language of the regulation, the well-established usage of the term “lines of sight” in the theater industry, and the anti-discrimination goals underlying Title III of the ADA.
Nonetheless, both the debates and litigation have continued. Since 1999, the Department has initiated enforcement actions against several movie theater companies and participated as well as amicus curiae in other private ADA litigation involving stadium-style theaters. To date, all Federal courts except one have adopted or endorsed the Department's interpretation of section 4.33.3's line-of-sight requirement. See United States v. Cinemark USA, Inc., 348 F.3d 569 (6th Cir. 2003), cert. denied, 72 U.S.L.W. 3513 (U.S. June 28, 2004) (No. 03-1131); Oregon Paralyzed Veterans of Am. v. Regal Cinemas, Inc., 339 F.3d 1126 (9th Cir. 2003), cert. denied, Regal Cinemas, Inc. v. Stewmon, 72 U.S.L.W. 3310 (U.S. June 28, 2004) (No. 03-641); Lara v. Cinemark USA, Inc., 207 F.3d 783 (5th Cir. 2000); cert. denied, 531 U.S. 944; United States v. Hoyts Cinemas Corp., 256 F. Supp. 2d 73 (D. Mass. 2003), appeals docketed, Nos. 03-1646, 03-1787, and 03-1808 (1st Cir. June 5, 2003); United States v. AMC Entm't, Inc., 232 F. Supp. 2d 1092 (C.D. Cal. 2002).
Revised ADA Standards. Building on the line-of-sight heritage of the current ADA Standards, section 221.2.3 of ADAAG frames the basic comparability requirement in terms of viewing angles: “Wheelchair spaces shall provide spectators with * * * viewing angles that are substantially equivalent to, or better than, the * * * viewing angles available to all other spectators.” This ADAAG provision applies to all types of public accommodations, including stadium-style movie theaters, sports arenas, and concert halls. The Department intends to adopt this ADAAG provision for all assembly areas.
The Department believes that it is prudent to supplement these generic assembly area requirements with more specific guidance on stadium-style movie theaters. In light of several factors—including the contentious nature of the debate surrounding the application of the current ADA Standards to stadium-style movie theaters, the movie industry's request for additional regulatory guidance relating to stadium-style movie theaters, as well as the Department's significant experience with issues relating to stadium-style theaters—the Department is considering proposing regulations specifically applicable to stadium-style movie theaters. The purpose of such a rule would be twofold. The Department would be seeking to ensure that patrons with disabilities have full and equal enjoyment of, and access to, stadium-style movie theaters. The Department would also be seeking to provide theater designers with detailed guidance concerning acceptable placement of wheelchair seating locations in stadium-style theaters, while also affording design flexibility.
Therefore, the Department is now seeking public comment about the Department's promulgation of rules specifically addressing stadium-style movie theaters. The Department anticipates such a regulation would only address line-of-sight issues. The Department also anticipates that the horizontal and vertical dispersion requirements set forth in ADAAG sections 221.2.3.1 and 221.2.3.2 would be adopted in their entirety and would apply independently of any line-of-sight regulation specifically applicable to stadium-style theaters. Finally, the Department does not believe that its proposed line-of-sight regulation represents a substantive change from the existing line-of-sight requirements of Standard 4.33.3 of the current ADA standards. As with the existing requirements, the proposed line-of-sight regulations would recognize the importance of viewing angles to the movie going experience and would be aimed at ensuring that movie patrons with disabilities are provided comparable views of the movie screen as compared to other theater patrons. The Department's proposed stadium-style theater regulation would set forth two separate requirements. First, the regulation would require wheelchair seating locations to be placed in the stadium section of a stadium-style movie theater. Second, the regulation would also establish one or more standards governing the placement of wheelchair seating locations within the stadium section. The Department offers the three following standards, either alone or in combination, for consideration and comment:
Option 1: Adopt Viewing Angle Requirement. One option would be simply to adopt the comparative viewing angle requirement set forth in ADAAG section 221.2.3. The advantage of this approach would be consistency of requirements as between stadium-style movie theaters and other types of public accommodation.
Option 2: Adopt “Distance From the Screen” Requirement. The second option would be to adopt a “distance from the screen” approach for locating wheelchair seating as established by some national consensus standards. For example, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) recently published a standard specifying that wheelchair seating should be located within the rear 70% of the seats provided in a movie theater. While distance from the screen presents an easily applied standard for theater designers and code personnel, the Department's experience with stadium-style theaters suggests that such a distance from the screen generally would not be sufficient to provide patrons who use wheelchairs with an equivalent viewing experience as compared to the rest of the movie audience. Thus, if the Department adopted a distance from the screen standard, it would likely specify that wheelchair seating must be located within the rear 60% of seats provided in a stadium-style theater.
Question 8. Should the Department promulgate a regulation specifically relating to stadium-style movie theaters? If so, should this regulation simply adopt ADAAG's viewing angle requirement for lines of sight or should it instead also include alternative Start Printed Page 58777distance from the screen or viewing angle/percentile approaches? How should the “stadium” section of a stadium-style theater be defined?
The Department plans to notify the public of the withdrawal of three outstanding NPRMs: the joint NPRM of the Department and the Access Board dealing with children's facilities, published on July 22, 1996, at 61 FR 37964; the Department's proposal to extend the time period for providing curb cuts at existing pedestrian walkways, published on November 27, 1995, at 60 FR 58462; and the Department's proposal to adopt the Access Board's accessibility guidelines and specifications for State and local government facilities, published as an interim final rule by the Access Board on June 20, 1994, at 59 FR 31676, and by the Department as a proposed rule on June 20, 1994, at 59 FR 31808. To the extent that these amendments were republished in the July 23, 2004, publication of ADAAG, they will all be included in the Department's new NPRM.
Section 308 (b)(1)(A)(ii) of the ADA authorizes the Attorney General to certify the accessibility requirements of State and local governments that meet or exceed the minimum requirements for accessibility and usability of buildings and facilities covered by the new construction and alterations requirements of Title III of the Act (42 U.S.C. 12188 (b)(1)(A)(ii)). This procedure is voluntary and may be initiated at the discretion of a State or local government. In jurisdictions with certified accessibility codes, compliance with the certified code in the construction or alteration of covered buildings and facilities constitutes rebuttable evidence of compliance with the ADA in any enforcement proceeding that might be brought. The Department's regulations implementing the certification process are published in 28 CFR 36.601-36.608.
Changes in Public Hearing Procedure. Section 36.605 (a)(2) of the Title III regulation requires that an informal hearing be held in Washington, DC, on the Department's decision to issue a preliminary determination of equivalency for a jurisdiction's accessibility code. The Department is considering substituting a requirement that an informal hearing be held within the relevant jurisdiction. The Department believes that a hearing conducted within the affected jurisdiction will generally provide a better opportunity for interested parties to comment.
Effect of the Revised ADA Standards on Certified Accessibility Codes. With the adoption of the revised ADA Standards, certifying State and local government codes as equivalent will be a more straightforward process because of the Access Board's extensive efforts to harmonize the revised guidelines with the model codes, which form the basis of many State codes. The Department is currently considering what impact the revised ADA Standards should have on the status of accessibility requirements for jurisdictions that were determined in the past to have met or exceeded the ADA Standards.
Complaint Investigation. One of the issues the Department will address in its upcoming NPRM relates to the Department's current procedures with respect to the investigation of complaints alleging discrimination on the basis of disability by public entities under Title II of the ADA. In its revised regulation implementing Title II, the Department will clarify its enforcement procedures in order to streamline the Department's internal procedures for investigating complaints, reduce the administrative burdens associated with implementing the statute, and ensure that the Department retains the flexibility to allocate its limited enforcement resources effectively and productively.
Subtitle A of Title II of the ADA defines the remedies, procedures, and rights provided for qualified individuals with disabilities who are discriminated against on the basis of disability in the services, programs, or activities of State and local governments. While the ADA requires the Department to implement the requirements of Title II, it does not specify any particular means of doing so. It does not require the Department to investigate every complaint of discrimination, or even to rely upon complaints at all as a means of enforcement. The Department's current Title II regulation is based on the enforcement procedures established in regulations implementing Section 504. Thus, the Department's current regulation provides that the Department “shall investigate each complete complaint” alleging a violation of Title II and shall “attempt informal resolution” of such complaint (28 CFR 35.172(a)).
In the years since the current regulation went into effect, the Department has received many more complaints alleging violations of Title II than its resources permit it to investigate. The Department's experience dictates that it must have greater discretion to prioritize these complaints appropriately in order to ensure that resources are directed to resolving the most critical matters. Without the ability to exercise discretion in complaint processing, there will be substantial delays in the investigation of many meritorious complaints. These delays would make investigations more difficult, as witnesses disappear, memories fade, and circumstances change. In some time-sensitive cases, such delays might even result in an effective denial of justice as agency resources would be taken up by less sensitive cases. These problems would also result in increased uncertainty for complainants and covered entities, as they would be required to await disposition of their disputes without any knowledge of what might be required of them.
The approach of the current Title II regulation may be contrasted with that reflected in the current Title III regulation, which recognizes that the Department has the discretion not to investigate all complaints alleging discrimination on the basis of disability by places of public accommodation (28 CFR 36.502). To avoid the enforcement problems identified above, and to bring its Title II regulation into sync with its current enforcement procedures under both Title II and Title III, the Department will propose to clarify in its revised regulation that it may exercise its discretion in selecting Title II complaints for investigation and in determining the most effective means of Start Printed Page 58778resolving those complaints. This clarification of the Department's enforcement procedures reflects the Department's determination to manage its Title II complaints as effectively as possible. It is not intended to create, eliminate, or otherwise alter any substantive rights or responsibilities under the ADA. It will not alter the Department's essential obligation to implement Title II of the ADA effectively, but will simply recognize the Department's discretion to determine how best to implement it.
As revised, the Department's Title II regulation will make clear that the Department may, within its discretion, dispose of complaints with inadequate legal or factual bases quickly, and, thus, dedicate more of its enforcement resources to complaints with stronger allegations. This process will allow the Department to continue to establish priorities and allocate resources to most effectively achieve the goals of the ADA. It will also allow the Department to respond more quickly to matters that need immediate resolution and to more fully address matters of systemic discrimination. The Department's resolution of those cases involving, for example, life-and-death situations, essential government services, and complex legal questions, will set high-profile precedents that will, in turn, facilitate local resolution of the types of complaints the Department is unable to pursue.
Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies. Another issue the Department will address in the NPRM involves the effect of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), 42 U.S.C. 1997e, upon complaints by prisoners alleging unlawful discrimination on the basis of disability under Title II of the ADA. The PLRA amended the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) to provide that “[n]o action shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under section 1983 of this title, or any other Federal law, by a prisoner confined in any jail, prison, or other correctional facility until such administrative remedies as are available are exhausted” (42 U.S.C. 1997e(a)). The plain language of the statute provides that individuals seeking to challenge prison conditions by invoking the provisions of “any * * * Federal law” are required first to exhaust “such administrative remedies as are available.” Title II of the ADA protects prisoners from unlawful discrimination on the basis of disability, and among the administrative remedies available to such individuals to redress discrimination is the filing of a Title II complaint with the Department. Therefore, in order to properly implement this legislation, the Department's revised regulation implementing Title II of the ADA will provide that in order to exhaust administrative remedies as required under the PLRA, prisoners alleging unlawful discrimination on the basis of disability under Title II will be required to file an administrative complaint with the Department prior to filing suit in court. As with all complaints of discrimination under Title II, the Department may, in its discretion, investigate and attempt to resolve the allegations of unlawful discrimination made in these complaints. However, given the large number of prisoner complaints and the Department's limited resources, it is unlikely that the Department will be able to investigate every such complaint. The Department wishes to ensure that this requirement does not prove to be a bar for prisoners with disabilities seeking redress of their grievances in the courts. Therefore, the Department will propose that, for purposes of the PLRA, a complainant will be deemed to have successfully exhausted the administrative remedy of filing a complaint with the Department if no action has been taken upon the complaint by the Department within a 60-day administrative period.
A regulatory assessment—a report analyzing the economic costs and benefits of a regulatory action “ is not required for this ANPRM. One purpose of this ANPRM, however, is to seek comment on the Department's proposed methodology for the regulatory assessment that the Department must prepare in connection with the issuance of the NPRM. A regulatory assessment will be required for the NPRM under Executive Order 12866, as amended without substantial change to its requirements by Executive Order 13258, and the Regulatory Flexibility Act, as amended by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996. Executive Order 12866 requires Federal agencies to submit any “significant regulatory action” to the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for review and approval prior to publication in the Federal Register. A proposed regulatory action that is deemed to be economically significant under section 3(f)(1) of that order (having an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more) is required to include a formal benefit-cost analysis. A formal benefit-cost analysis must include both qualitative and quantitative measurements of the benefits and costs of the proposed rule as well as a discussion of each potentially effective and reasonably feasible alternative.
As part of the Department's initial NPRM regulatory assessment, the Department expects to adopt the final regulatory assessment prepared by the Access Board for the final ADAAG and approved by OMB. (See regulatory assessment for ADAAG at www.access-board.gov. The assessment has also been placed in the dockets of both the Access Board and the Department and is available for public inspection.) However, the regulatory assessment for the Department's NPRM must be broader than that of the Access Board in several respects. First, the Department must include as part of the estimated annual cost of the revised ADA Standards the cost of each of the supplemental guidelines (now folded into the final ADAAG document) issued by the Access Board subsequent to the 1991 ADAAG. As discussed above, the Access Board adopted the supplemental guidelines in separate rulemaking initiatives before ultimately combining them into the final ADAAG document. The costs associated with these supplemental guidelines, therefore, were considered part of the Access Board's baseline, and not as new costs associated with the Board's issuance of ADAAG. Because the Department did not adopt any of the supplemental guidelines separately, the Department must consider their associated costs as part of adopting revised ADA Standards consistent with ADAAG.
Also, consistent with the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 and Executive Order 13272, the Department must consider the impacts of any proposed rule on small entities, including small Start Printed Page 58779businesses, small nonprofit organizations, and small governmental jurisdictions. The Department will make an initial determination as to whether the proposed rule is likely to have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities, and if so, the Department will prepare an initial regulatory flexibility analysis analyzing the economic impacts on small entities and regulatory alternatives that reduce the regulatory burden on small entities while achieving the goals of the regulation. In response to this ANPRM, the Department encourages small entities to provide cost data on the potential economic impact of applying specific provisions of ADAAG to existing facilities and recommendations on less burdensome alternatives, with cost information.
The Department is not, in the following data collection questions, seeking information about the cost of applying revised ADA Standards to new construction and alterations. As stated above under Item IV, the Department expects to adopt the Access Board's final regulatory assessment (see regulatory assessment for ADAAG at www.access-board.gov) as its assessment of the cost that will be incurred for new construction and alterations, which is the situation addressed in the Access Board's regulatory assessment. The following data collection questions are intended to elicit information about the costs and benefits that will result if the new guidelines are used as the basis for mandatory barrier removal. Question 9 is a general question soliciting data about the potential costs and benefits of using any or all of the changed or new requirements in the new guidelines as the basis for mandatory barrier removal. Question 10 is a general question soliciting information about the effect of the new or changed requirements on the obligations of small entities with respect to barrier removal. Questions 11-47 contain numerous questions that reiterate this general question with respect to a sampling of specific new or changed requirements. The Department is seeking comments from all stakeholders “ covered entities, persons with disabilities, and all other members of the public “ with respect to both costs and benefits. The Department also wishes to solicit comments on any areas where additional costs may be imposed or benefits may be realized indirectly as a result of the ultimate regulations. Where applicable, responses should clearly identify the specific question being addressed according to the numbered question.
Question 10. Consistent with the Regulatory Flexibility Act and Executive Order 13272, the Department will determine whether a proposed rule adopting all or part of the Access Board's ADAAG revisions would be likely to have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities, and if so, what the Department could do to reduce that economic impact while achieving the goals of its regulation. The Department welcomes comments providing information on the rule's potential economic impact on covered small entities, including retrofitting costs. Also, please provide any potential regulatory alternatives that could reduce those burdens.
Question 11. The Department is considering excluding as a barrier removal obligation for existing facilities, if it selects Option II under Question 4, above, the requirement at ADAAG 210 Start Printed Page 58780that accessible handrails be added to stairs in buildings with elevators. The Department is soliciting comments from all stakeholders on this approach. Please be as specific as possible in your response.
Question 12. ADAAG 229.1 is a new requirement that at least one window be accessible to persons with disabilities in a room with windows that can be opened by persons without disabilities. The Department wishes to collect data about the effect of this new requirement if it is applied to existing facilities under the barrier removal requirement of Title III. Do you have rooms with windows that open, of the sliding or double hung type, in your existing facility? If so, how many? Would the hardware that works for new windows in new buildings work on these windows in your existing facility without additional cost?
Question 14. Under the current ADA Standards, men's toilet rooms with six or more water closets and urinals, but fewer than six toilet compartments, are not required to provide an ambulatory accessible toilet compartment with grab bars. Under ADAAG 213.1, urinals will be counted, so that if there are a total of six urinals or water closets, an ambulatory accessible toilet compartment with grab bars will be newly required. Additional costs in new construction include the costs of adding grab bars but because of fire code requirements, no cost is allocated with respect to new construction and alterations to the requirement that an accessible compartment must be between 35 and 37 inches wide and 60 inches deep. The Department wishes to collect data about the effect of this requirement in existing facilities. Are some or all of the men's rooms in your existing office building required to have an ambulatory accessible toilet compartment? Will the changed requirement result in more such compartments being necessary in your existing office building? If so, what would be the unit cost of adding such a compartment? How many additional ambulatory accessible toilet compartments would you be required to add in your existing office building?
Persons with disabilities and the general public are invited to comment on the incremental benefit of having additional ambulatory accessible toilet compartments in men's rooms in existing office buildings.
Question 26. A new requirement at ADAAG 607.6 provides that the shower spray unit in an accessible shower Start Printed Page 58781compartment must have an on-off switch. The Department wishes to collect data about the effect of this requirement if it is applied to existing facilities under the readily achievable barrier removal requirement of Title III. Do all of the shower spray units that you currently use for accessible shower compartments in your existing hospital or long-term care facility have on-off switches? If not, how many shower spray units in accessible shower compartments do you have without on-off switches? Would you have to purchase a new shower spray unit to add the on-off feature or is there a way to adapt your current unit for this purpose?
Question 43. A new requirement at ADAAG 235.2 requires accessible boat slips to be provided in accordance with a table, which ranges from one accessible boat slip for facilities with 25 or fewer boat slips to 12 accessible boat slips for facilities with 901 to 1,000 boat slips. ADAAG 1003.3.1 provides that an accessible boat slip must be at least 60 inches wide along its entire length (with an exception for two-foot sections at least 36 inches wide if separated by 60-inch wide sections at least 60 inches in length). The Department wishes to collect data about the effect of this requirement if it is applied to existing boat slips under the readily achievable barrier removal requirement of Title III. How many boat slips are there in your existing facility? When was your facility built? The Department is considering reducing the number of boat slips that must be accessible in existing facilities if it selects Option II under Question 4, Start Printed Page 58782above. The Department is soliciting comments from all stakeholders on this approach. Please be as specific as possible in your response.
Question 48. Do you have any general comments or concerns about the Department's proposed methodology for determining benefits? As discussed in the text of the proposed framework, the Department is charged with ascertaining the value of the benefits that the revised ADA Standards will provide for both people with disabilities and others. The Department is seeking comments from the public on how best to quantify, monetize, or describe the benefits provided by the proposed revised regulations, including suggestions on how to quantify, monetize or describe use values, insurance values, and existence values, each as described in Appendix A.
OMB Circular A-4 (www.whitehouse.gov/​omb/​circulars/​a004/​a-4.pdf) provides guidance to Federal agencies on the development of regulatory analysis. Regulatory analysis is a tool agencies use to anticipate and evaluate the likely consequences of rules. It provides a formal way of organizing the evidence on the key effects of the various alternatives that should be considered in developing regulations. The motivation is to (i) learn if the benefits of an action are likely to justify the costs or (ii) discover which of various possible alternatives would be the most cost-effective.
This ANPRM seeks additional information to assist the Department in preparing a regulatory analysis under Circular A-4, in particular the provisions of sections D (Analytical Approaches) and E (Identifying and Measuring Benefits and Costs).
As directed by Executive Order 12866 and OMB Circular A-4, as well as the Regulatory Flexibility Act and Executive Order 13272, the Department may be required to conduct a comprehensive Regulatory Impact Analysis of the revised ADA Standards. A Regulatory Impact Analysis may include a statement of need for the proposed regulation, the identification of a reasonable range of alternatives, the conduct of a Benefit-Cost Analysis of the proposed regulation and the alternatives, and an analysis of uncertainty in the identification and quantification of costs and benefits. The Benefit-Cost Analysis entails the comprehensive description of the incremental costs and benefits of each alternative, to the extent practicable, in terms of monetary value. In this context, a Benefit-Cost Analysis would apply to each of the new or changed scoping and technical provisions in the revised ADA Standards that represent substantive changes from the current ADA Standards, as well as to possible alternatives to those provisions. The proposed Regulatory Impact Analysis would be included as part of the NPRM, and while the public will have an opportunity to comment on its assumptions and results at that time, this is the time to suggest significant changes to the Department's proposed methodology. In presenting in this ANPRM its current thinking on how it might approach the regulatory analysis, the Department seeks to engage the public in the choice of its methodology before significant Start Printed Page 58783time and effort is expended on its implementation.
The public at large will also benefit from the proposed regulations. Accessible facilities benefit persons with and without disabilities alike. This represents their use value. For individuals with disabilities, use value will include benefits arising from the ability to participate in previously inaccessible facility-based activities, or the availability of more convenient or independently usable facility elements or spaces. In addition, because people who do not need the protections of the ADA in the present may need them in the future, like an insurance policy, people without disabilities may place a value on accessible features. People may also place some value on the existence of accessible features unrelated to their anticipation of future personal need for them. This is reflected in people's possible willingness to pay something to ensure that equal access is provided for others (family, friends, and other members of society) who are or might become temporarily or permanently disabled, or to safeguard the principle of equal protection for people with disabilities, regardless of the risk of onset or the general incidence of disability. Benefit-Cost Analysis helps the general public ascertain whether the value of these “nonuse” related benefits is quantitatively significant relative to the costs.
Under the Department's proposed categorization scheme, the Department will assess costs and benefits for each element addressed in the revised ADA Standards, as categorized by building and facility type, separately for newly constructed or altered facilities and existing facilities. Once costs and benefits are assessed for each element, they (costs, benefits, and net benefits) will be Start Printed Page 58784aggregated (“rolled-up”) with respect to (i) the type of building and facility; (ii) newly constructed or altered facilities; (iii) existing facilities; and (iv) the revised ADA Standards as a whole. The different “roll-ups” will enable stakeholders to examine the regulatory analysis from their particular perspective.
OMB Circular A-4 stipulates that a regulatory analysis is only supposed to account for those costs and benefits that arise as a result of the proposed regulatory action itself. Such costs and benefits are called “incremental” because they reflect only the costs and benefits imposed by the adoption of the regulation—excluded are any costs and benefits that are imposed by already existing requirements. The latter costs and benefits constitute the “baseline” against which the incremental costs and benefits of the new regulation are compared. The baseline thus represents the costs and benefits that would arise whether or not the proposed regulations are adopted. Although the current enforceable ADA Standards clearly impose costs and benefits upon society, for the purpose of the proposed Regulatory Impact Analysis, which will be designed to identify the incremental costs and benefits of the proposed rulemaking, the current ADA Standards and other Federal requirements will be considered the baseline, and as such, will be assigned zero costs and benefits. Thus, technically, if compliance with a current requirement costs $40, and compliance with the changed requirement costs $50, this will be stated as baseline of zero, incremental cost of $10.
While the revised ADA Standards will apply directly to newly constructed or altered facilities, the Department will determine in its ADA regulation whether and to what extent the revised ADA Standards will apply to existing facilities. The cost of any required compliance with the revised ADA Standards by existing facilities will be more difficult to determine than the cost of compliance for newly constructed and altered facilities. Many existing facilities are subject only to the readily achievable barrier removal requirement. Under that requirement, what is readily achievable for any given facility must be determined on a case-by-case basis and, by statute, has no monetary or other absolute parameters. In addition, cost estimates are more readily available with respect to newly constructed and altered facilities. Thus, while the basic principles are the same for both, the Department is considering rather different technical approaches to the Benefit-Cost Analysis of the revised ADA Standards with respect to newly constructed and altered facilities, on the one hand, and existing facilities, on the other. Start Printed Page 58785
For facilities that will be newly constructed or altered after the effective date of the revised ADA Standards, the Department will seek to estimate the economic value of the incremental costs and benefits of each new or revised provision, and from there the net costs or benefits of the rule as a whole, by fairly conventional means. Using the Access Board's estimates of direct unit costs as a starting point, the Department will estimate the direct life-cycle costs (based on an estimated 50-year life cycle of a building) imposed by each provision. These direct costs may include one-time cash expenditures occurring at the time of construction or alteration (also known as “capital” costs), annual cash expenditures necessary to cover the incremental costs of maintaining and operating accessible elements and spaces, and any loss of economic value caused by the reduction of productive space or productivity. Indirect costs include losses in social value that may arise as a result of the revised ADA Standards, such as reduced accessibility or, due to the increased cost of construction, a reduction in the number of total facilities and buildings that are constructed.
Benefits are primarily represented by the creation of social value, and can be divided into three categories. “Use value” is the value that people both with and without disabilities derive from the use of accessible facilities. “Insurance value” is the value that people both with and without disabilities derive from the opportunity to obtain the benefit of accessible facilities. Finally, “existence value” is the value that people both with and without disabilities derive from the guarantees of equal protection and non-discrimination that are accorded through the provision of accessible facilities. Other kinds of benefits include the saving of direct costs, such as from reduced construction, alteration, or retrofitting expenses resulting from reduced accessibility requirements.
Based on the estimates of costs and benefits, the Department will calculate the annualized value and the net present value of the rule as whole. In addition to requiring the presentation of annualized costs and benefits, OMB Circular A-4 stipulates that net present value is to be regarded as a principal measure of value produced by a Benefit-Cost Analysis when costs and benefits are separated from each other over time (i.e., when some people benefit from accessible facilities long after their construction). A net present value greater than zero would indicate that benefits exceed costs and that the regulation can be expected to increase the general level of economic welfare accordingly. While a net present value of less than zero could mean that costs exceed benefits, the existence of significant unmeasured and qualitative benefits must be taken into account. The Department proposes to identify and discuss all unmeasured and qualitative benefits. As one means of accounting for measurement risk, the Department also proposes to adopt the method of Threshold Analysis. Under this method, if quantitatively measured costs appear to exceed quantitatively measured benefits, the Department will calculate the value that society would need to assign to un-quantified benefits in order to balance the ledger. This “threshold value” will be reported for public review and comment in the NPRM, along with a qualitative description of the un-quantified benefits at issue.
Among the conventions of economic analysis, and an accepted principle in OMB Circular A-4, is that the amount of money people either pay or are willing to pay for goods and services represents a reasonable index of the total benefit they derive from such goods and services. This is called “willingness to pay.” The Department recognizes that the research community has made significant progress in the measurement of willingness to pay using proxies from market prices, surveys, and other methods. The Department also recognizes that some values nevertheless defy measurement. For example, while society clearly values the existence of constitutional protections, ascertaining the monetary equivalence of such values might be controversial and technically impracticable. Accordingly, the Department proposes to express benefits that are difficult to measure in qualitative rather than quantitative terms.
Circular A-4 indicates that, where available and relevant, market prices represent the appropriate starting point for ascertaining willingness to pay. Thus, for example, if a movie theater or swimming pool becomes newly accessible as a result of the revised ADA Standards, the resulting user value could be determined by multiplying the volume of new visits by people with disabilities by the market price of entry (namely, the ticket price). However, an issue with market prices arises where a provision in the revised ADA Standards renders an existing facility “more” accessible rather than newly accessible. Such might be the case, for example, with respect to the provision requiring an independent means of getting in and out of the pool in an otherwise accessible swimming facility, or the provision requiring equal access to the good seats in an otherwise accessible theater. In such cases, it may be argued that the price of entry overstates the value of the provision, since entry per se would still be feasible without the change. On the other hand, others may argue that the swimming or theater experience is fundamentally altered, perhaps even newly facilitated in a meaningful way, by the availability of improved, independent access. In practice, practitioners of Benefit-Cost Analysis employ empirical data, opinion surveys, expert judgment, and sensitivity analysis to obtain reasoned estimates of use value.
Another issue that arises when willingness to pay is used as an index of value is that market prices simply do not exist for all goods and services. Such might be the case with a municipal swimming pool provided free of charge, or for a token, largely subsidized user fee. Another example might be the improvement of a particular element or space, such as a kitchen or toilet, in an otherwise accessible office building. Survey-based information is the principal means of obtaining willingness-to-pay data in such cases. A commonly used survey approach in Regulatory Impact Analysis is called the “Stated Preference” method. Stated Preference surveys pose carefully conceived and scientifically structured hypothetical choices and trade-offs to random samples of survey respondents. Special statistical analysis of the survey data is then employed in order to obtain estimates of willingness to pay. A concern with the Stated Preference surveys is that respondents may not have sufficient incentives to offer thoughtful responses that are consistent with their preferences, or that respondents may be inclined to bias their responses for one reason or another. Without a real budgetary constraint, for example, respondents with disabilities might be inclined to exaggerate their willingness to pay for more accessible facilities. On the other hand, respondents without disabilities might understate their true willingness to pay for accessibility measures due to a tendency to underestimate the risk of becoming disabled oneself. Additionally, people might have difficulty articulating the strength of their feelings regarding, for example, the integration of a child with a disability into a mainstream school or play area if they do not have a child with a disability. Perhaps people are more likely to underestimate than overestimate their willingness to pay for the existence of legal protections if they have not experienced disability first-hand or within their family. The Department recognizes the need to anticipate the risk of both under- and over-estimation of value based on the hypothetical willingness-to-pay questions posed in Stated Preference surveys. The Department recognizes as well that, other things being equal, “revealed preference” data—data based on actual transactions—is to be preferred over Stated Preference data because revealed preferences represent actual decisions in which market participants enjoy or suffer the consequences of their decisions. Start Printed Page 58786
Finally, measurement error is inevitable in the assessment of both costs and benefits. The revised Standards will have different implications for elements and spaces in facilities of different types and different ages. The number of elements and spaces in facilities is itself uncertain. Data will often be sparse and will be subject to recording errors of many kinds. In addition to the method of Threshold Analysis described above, the Department proposes to adopt the method of Risk Analysis to help ensure that the analysis is transparent with respect to measurement risk. While rather technical in application, the principle is straightforward: with Risk Analysis, every number employed in the analysis is expressed as a range—what statisticians call a “probability distribution”—that reflects the whole array of possible outcomes and the probability of each occurring. When all the ranges are combined into estimates of total costs and total benefits for a given regulatory provision, the result is not a single “best guess” of net benefit, but a probability range of possible outcomes.
Title III of the ADA reflects Congress's specific intent not to establish—either in the statute or regulations—absolute technical or monetary standards for what constitutes readily achievable barrier removal in existing buildings. Some stakeholders, particularly businesses (and especially small businesses), have long expressed concern regarding the need to assess the costs of compliance with the readily achievable barrier removal requirement in absolute terms, notwithstanding the essentially relative nature of the statutory requirement.
The Department is considering the development of a computer simulation model to estimate the incremental costs and benefits of the revised ADA Standards as applied to existing facilities that may be required to retrofit particular elements or spaces only to the extent required by the readily achievable barrier removal requirement. For each new or revised scoping or technical provision in the revised ADA Standards representing a substantive change from the current ADA Standards, the computer model would assess the statistical probability that existing facilities would be required to implement the provision pursuant to the readily achievable barrier removal requirement. In order to determine whether a provision would apply to a given facility, the Department contemplates plugging a range of different factors relevant to the “readily achievable” analysis into the model, including the possibility of using multiple criteria that distinguish among small- and large-sized enterprises.
1. Part II of the Architectural Transportation Barriers Compliance Board's revised guidelines applies to facilities subject to the ABA. Regulations implementing the ABA are issued by the Department of Defense, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the General Services Administration, and the U.S. Postal Service.
2. The Access Board's revised ADA Accessibility Guidelines are available on the Access Board's Web site at www.access-board.gov.
3. After a two-year process of collaboration with the Access Board, the Advisory Committee issued “Recommendations for a New ADAAG” in September 1996.
4. Subtitle A of Title III of the ADA, at 42 U.S.C. 12183, prohibits the design or construction of facilities that are not readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities when such facilities are intended for first occupancy more than 30 months after enactment of the ADA, except in cases of structural impracticability. This requirement is implemented in the Department's Title III regulation at 28 CFR 36.401.
5. If the Department decides to use the six-month effective date of Option II in Question 1, above, the application of the two-step test for first occupancy (building permit and certificate of first occupancy) currently used for new construction under Title III would be modified to fit within that period.
[FR Doc. 04-21875 Filed 9-29-04; 8:45 am]