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  







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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.  








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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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