Governor Signs Disability Access Legislation
Governor Schwarzenegger has signed into law a landmark disability bill which attempts to both provide increased equal access to individuals with disabilities and to reduce disability-access litigation against employers. Senate Bill 1608 attempts to strike a fair and reasonable balance between these two goals by providing:
• A 19-member state advisory committee on disability access.
• Improved continuing education in disability access laws for building inspectors and architects.
• Incentives for building owners to use state-certified access specialists to ensure compliance.
• A new court procedure to encourage early resolution of disability access lawsuits.
• Clarifications in the law to help reduce unwarranted damages and attorneys’ fees. Particularly important is a provision clarifying that plaintiffs may recover damages only for a violation they personally encountered or that deterred access on a particular occasion. Also, the bill clarifies that a court can consider reasonable written settlement offers made and rejected in determining the amount of reasonable attorneys fees to be awarded at the end of a case.
Portions of Senate Bill 1608’s provisions will go into effect on January 1, 2009, while implementation of other provisions will be delayed until July 1, 2009. A full version of the bill is available here. This bill is good news for California employers, who have faced a proliferation of lawsuits capitalizing on flaws in the disability laws and inconsistent interpretations by the courts to seek monetary profits rather than to gain access for the disabled. The bill also serves as a good reminder that employers need to regularly evaluate their businesses to ensure that they are complying with disability access laws.