BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 54 (Olsen) - Disability access: construction-related
accessibility claims: demand letters
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|Version: May 24, 2016 |Policy Vote: JUD. 7 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: June 27, 2016 |Consultant: Jolie Onodera |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 54 would modify existing requirements related to
the reporting of information about demand letters and complaints
regarding construction-related accessibility violations to the
California Commission on Disability Access (CCDA). Specifically,
this bill would require the information about demand letters and
complaints to be submitted in a standard format as specified by
the CCDA.
Fiscal
Impact: One-time costs to the CCDA of $90,000 to $110,000
(General Fund) which includes (1) $40,000 to $60,000 for the
development and implementation of a digital data capture format
necessary to collect and conduct analysis of the reported
information, and, (2) a $50,000 limited-term contract to
transition the data to the automated system. Ongoing costs for
the revised data collection process are estimated at about
$15,000 per year. Potential future cost savings are likely to be
AB 54 (Olsen) Page 1 of
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realized through administrative efficiencies created by
streamlining the existing manual process of data entry and
storage of these public records.
Background: The California Commission on Disability Access (CCDA) was
established pursuant to SB 1608 (Corbett) Chapter 549/2008, to
act as an information resource; to research and prepare advisory
reports of findings to the Legislature on issues related to
disability access, compliance inspections and continuing
education; to increase coordination between stakeholders; to
make recommendations to promote compliance with federal and
state laws and regulations; and to provide uniform information
about programmatic and architectural disability access
requirements to stakeholders.
In 2012, SB 1186 (Steinberg) Chapter 383/2012 established the
additional review and reporting of demand letters by the CCDA.
Subsequent legislation, including AB 1521 (Committee on
Judiciary) Chapter 755/2015 was signed into law as an urgency
measure with the requirement for the CCDA to additionally
collect and study case outcomes.
Existing law requires an attorney who serves a demand letter
and/or files a complaint alleging a violation of any
construction-related accessibility standard, to submit a copy of
the letter and/or complaint to the CCDA within five business
days of serving or sending the letter or complaint on the
defendant. (Civil Code § 55.32.)
The CCDA currently has limited resources to fulfill its numerous
duties and obligations. This bill seeks to aid the CCDA in its
charge to collect and analyze data obtained from
construction-related accessibility claims through a more
efficient data collection process.
Proposed Law:
This bill would require an attorney serving a demand letter or
complaint to send a copy to the CCDA and submit information in a
standard form as specified by the CCDA on its internet website.
AB 54 (Olsen) Page 2 of
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Additionally, this bill would require the CCDA to, at least 30
days before requiring a new standard format, post on its
internet website the new standard format and the start date that
the CCDA will begin requiring that information sent to the CCDA
be submitted in the new standard format.
Related
Legislation: SB 1406 (Mendoza) 2016 would require an attorney
who sends or serves a complaint alleging a construction-related
accessibility violation against a public entity to send a copy
of the complaint and submit the notification of judgment,
settlement, or dismissal to the CCDA, as specified. This bill is
pending hearing in the Assembly Judiciary Committee.
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