Amended in Assembly June 23, 2016

Amended in Senate May 10, 2016

Senate Bill No. 1406

Introduced by Senator Mendoza

February 19, 2016

An act to add Section 54.27 to the Civil Code, begin insert and to amend Section 8299.08 of the Government Code, end insert relating to disability access.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 1406, as amended, Mendoza. Construction-related accessibility: begin delete public end delete begin insert education end insert entities.

Existing law provides that individuals with disabilities or medical conditions have the same right as the general public to the full and free use of the streets, highways, sidewalks, walkways, public buildings, medical facilities, including hospitals, clinics, and physicians’ offices, public facilities, and other public places. Existing law requires an attorney who provides a demand letter or sends or serves a complaint containing a claim of a violation of any construction-related accessibility standard, as defined, with respect to a place of public accommodation, to send a copy of the demand letter or complaint to the California Commission on Disability Access within 5 business days of providing the demand letter or sending or serving the complaint. Existing law further requires an attorney who sends or serves that complaint to notify the commission of judgment, settlement, or dismissal of the claim or claims alleged in the complaint and other specified information within 5 business days of the judgment, settlement, or dismissal.

This begin delete bill end delete begin insert bill, with specified exceptions, end insert would also require an attorney who provides a begin delete demand end delete begin insert prelitigation end insert letter or sends or serves a complaint alleging a construction-related accessibility claim, as defined, against begin delete a public end delete begin insert an education end insert entity, as defined, to send a copy of the begin delete demand end delete begin insert prelitigation end insert letter or complaint to the commission within 5 business days of providing the begin delete demand end delete begin insert prelitigation end insert letter or sending or serving the complaint, would require the attorney to also submit information about the complaint with the copy of the complaint, and would further require the attorney to submit the notification of judgment, settlement, or dismissal to the commission, as described above. begin insert The bill would subject an attorney who fails to comply with these requirements to discipline and would require the commission to review and report on the prelitigation letters, complaints, and notifications of case outcomes the commission receives pursuant to these requirements, as specified. end insert

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 54.27 is added to the Civil Code, to read:

54.27.  

(a) An attorney who provides a begin delete demand end delete begin insert prelitigation end insert
letter begin delete alleging a construction-related accessibility claim against a
public end delete begin insert to an education end insert entity shall begin delete send end delete begin insert do both of the following: end insert

begin insert

(1) Include the attorney’s State Bar license number in the
prelitigation letter.

end insert

begin insert (2) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert Within five business days of providing the prelitigation letter,
send end insert a copy of the begin delete demand end delete begin insert prelitigation end insert letter to the California
Commission on Disability begin delete Access within five business days of
providing the demand letter. end delete begin insert Access. end insert

(b) An attorney who sends or serves a complaint begin delete alleging a
construction-related accessibility claim against a public end delete begin insert against
an education end insert entity shall do both of the following:

(1) Send a copy of the complaint and submit information about
the complaint in a standard format specified by the California
Commission on Disability Access to the commission within five
business days of sending or serving the complaint.

(2) Notify the California Commission on Disability Access
within five business days of judgment, settlement, or dismissal of
the claim or claims alleged in the complaint of the following
information in a standard format specified by the commission:

(A) The date of the judgment, settlement, or dismissal.

(B) Whether or not the construction-related accessibility
violations alleged in the complaint were remedied in whole or in
part after the plaintiff filed a complaint.

(C) If the construction-related accessibility violations alleged
in the complaint were not remedied in whole or in part after the
plaintiff filed a complaint, whether or not another favorable result
was achieved after the plaintiff filed the complaint.

begin insert

(c) A violation of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) or subdivision
(b) shall constitute cause for the imposition of discipline of an
attorney if a copy of the prelitigation letter, complaint, or
notification of a case outcome is not sent to the California
Commission on Disability Access within five business days. In the
event the State Bar receives information indicating that an attorney
has failed to send a copy of the prelitigation letter, complaint, or
notification of a case outcome to the California Commission on
Disability Access within five business days, the State Bar shall
investigate to determine whether paragraph (2) of subdivision (a)
or subdivision (b) has been violated.

end insert begin insert

(d) Notwithstanding subdivisions (a) and (b), an attorney is not
required to send to the California Commission on Disability Access
a copy of any subsequent prelitigation letter or amended complaint
in the same dispute following the initial prelitigation letter or
complaint, unless that subsequent prelitigation letter or amended
complaint alleges a new construction-related accessibility claim.

end insert begin insert

(e) A prelitigation letter or notification of a case outcome sent
to the California Commission on Disability Access shall be for the
informational purposes of Section 8299.08 of the Government
Code.

end insert begin insert

(f) The California Commission on Disability Access shall review
and report on the prelitigation letters, complaints, and notifications
of case outcomes it receives in the same manner as provided in
Section 8299.08 of the Government Code.

end insert begin insert

(g) Paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) and subdivision (b) shall
not apply to a prelitigation letter or complaint sent or filed by an
attorney employed or retained by a qualified legal services project
or a qualified support center, as defined in Section 6213 of the
Business and Professions Code, when acting within the scope of
employment in asserting a construction-related accessibility claim.
The Legislature finds and declares that qualified legal services
projects and support centers are extensively regulated by the State
Bar of California, and that there is no evidence of any abusive use
of demand letters or complaints by these organizations. The
Legislature further finds that, in light of the evidence of the
extraordinarily small number of construction-related accessibility
cases brought by regulated legal services programs, and given the
resources of those programs, exempting regulated legal services
programs from the requirements of this section to report to the
California Commission on Disability Access will not affect the
purpose of the reporting to, and tabulation by, the commission of
all other construction-related accessibility claims.

end insert begin insert

(h) Nothing in this section applies to a claim for money or
damages against a public entity governed by Division 3.6
(commencing with Section 810) of Title 1 of the Government Code
or makes the requirements of this section applicable to such a
claim.

end insert begin delete

(c)

end delete

begin insert (i) end insert  For purposes of this section, the following terms have the
following meanings:

begin insert

(1) “Complaint” means a civil complaint that is filed or is to
be filed with a court and is sent to or served upon a defendant on
the basis of one or more construction-related accessibility claims.

end insert begin delete

(1)

end delete

begin insert (2) end insert  “Construction-related accessibility claim” or “claim” means
any claim of a violation of any construction-related accessibility
standard, as defined begin delete by end delete begin insert in end insert paragraph (6) of subdivision (a) of
Section 55.52, with respect to a public building, public facility, or
other public begin delete place. end delete begin insert place of an education entity. end insert

begin insert “Construction-related accessibility claim” does not include a
claim of interference with housing within the meaning of paragraph
(2) of subdivision (b) of Section 54.1, or any claim of interference
caused by something other than the construction-related
accessibility condition of the property, including, but not limited
to, the conduct of any person. end insert

begin delete

(2) “Public

end delete

begin insert (3) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert “Education end insert entity” means the Regents of the University of
California, the Trustees of the California State University and the
California State University, the California Community Colleges
Office of the Chancellor and the California Community Colleges,
a K-12 school district, or any local education agency.

begin insert

(4) “Prelitigation letter” means a prelitigation written document
that alleges the site is in violation of one or more
construction-related accessibility standards, as defined in
paragraph (6) of subdivision (a) of Section 55.52 and is provided
to the education entity whether or not the attorney intends to file
a complaint, or eventually files a complaint, in state or federal
court. A prelitigation letter does not include a claim for money or
damages against a local public entity governed by Division 3.6
(commencing with Section 810) of Title 1 of the Government Code.

end insert

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 8299.08 of the end insert begin insert Government Code end insert begin insert is amended
to read: end insert

8299.08.  

The commission shall compile the following data
with respect to any demand begin delete letter end delete begin insert letter, prelitigation letter, end insert or
complaint sent to the commission pursuant to Section begin delete 53.32 end delete begin insert 54.27
or 55.32 end insert of the Civil Code and post the information on its Internet
Web site, pursuant to the following:

(a) The commission shall identify the various types of
construction-related physical access violations alleged in the
demand letters and in the complaints, respectively, and shall
tabulate the number of claims alleged for each type of violation
in the demand letters and complaints, respectively. For purposes
of this subdivision, any demand for money letters shall be grouped
as demand letters.

(b) Periodically, but not less than every six months beginning
July 31, 2013, the commission shall post on its Internet Web site
a list, by type, of the 10 most frequent types of accessibility
violations alleged in the demand letters and in the complaints,
respectively, and the numbers of alleged violations for each listed
type of violation for the prior two quarters.

(c) The commission shall, on a quarterly basis, identify and
tabulate the number of demand letters and complaints received by
the commission. The commission shall further ascertain whether
a complaint was filed in state or federal court and tabulate the
number of complaints filed in state or federal court, respectively.
This data shall be posted on the commission’s Internet Web site
periodically, but not less than every six months beginning July 31,
2013.

(d) Commencing in 2014, and notwithstanding Section 10231.5,
the commission shall make an annual report to the Legislature and
the Chairs of the Senate and Assembly Committees on Judiciary
by January 31 of each year of the tabulated data for the preceding
calendar year as set forth in subdivisions (a) to (c), inclusive. A
report to be submitted pursuant to this subdivision shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795.