BILL NUMBER: AB 2516 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Hill
FEBRUARY 19, 2010
An act to amend Section 12955.1 of the Government Code, relating
to community development.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2516, as introduced, Hill. Community development: housing
discrimination.
The existing California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA)
makes it unlawful to discriminate against any person in any housing
accommodation on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, marital
status, national origin, ancestry, familial status, or disability. It
permits the Department of Fair Employment and Housing to engage in
affirmative actions to prevent and provide for effective remedies
against housing discrimination.
Under existing law, discrimination includes, but is not limited
to, a failure to design and construct a covered multifamily dwelling
in a specified manner. Existing law provides that regulations
adopting building standards necessary to implement, interpret, or
make specific these provisions are required to be developed by the
Office of the State Architect for public housing and by the
Department of Housing and Community Development for all other
residential occupancies, as specified.
This bill would revise the definition of discrimination to include
prescribed requirements relating to multistory dwelling units
located in buildings where the closest edge or perimeter of the
building is within 1/2 mile of a transit station.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 12955.1 of the Government Code is amended to
read:
12955.1. (a) For purposes of Section 12955, "discrimination"
includes, but is not limited to, a failure to design and construct a
covered multifamily dwelling in a manner that allows access to, and
use by, disabled persons by providing, at a minimum, the following
features:
(1) All covered multifamily dwellings shall have at least one
building entrance on an accessible route, unless it is impracticable
to do so because of the terrain or unusual characteristics of the
site. The burden of establishing impracticability because of terrain
or unusual site characteristics is on the person or persons who
designed or constructed the housing facility.
(2) All covered multifamily dwellings with a building entrance on
an accessible route shall be designed and constructed in a manner
that complies with all of the following:
(A) The public and common areas are readily accessible to and
usable by persons with disabilities.
(B) All the doors designed to allow passage into and within all
premises are sufficiently wide to allow passage by persons in
wheelchairs.
(C) All premises within covered multifamily dwelling units contain
the following features of adaptable design:
(i) An accessible route into and through the covered dwelling
unit.
(ii) Light switches, electrical outlets, thermostats, and other
environmental controls in accessible locations.
(iii) Reinforcements in bathroom walls to allow later installation
of grab bars around the toilet, tub, shower stall, and shower seat,
where those facilities are provided.
(iv) Useable kitchens and bathrooms so that an individual in a
wheelchair can maneuver about the space.
(b) (1) For purposes of Section 12955, "discrimination" includes,
but is not limited to, a failure to design and construct 10 percent
of the multistory dwelling units in buildings without an elevator
that consist of at least four condominium dwelling units or at least
three rental apartment dwelling units in a manner that incorporates
an accessible route to the primary entry level entrance and that
meets the requirements of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) with
respect to the ground floor, a unit with at least one
full bathroom , including a bath and shower combination,
on the primary entry level and the public and common areas. Any
fraction thereof shall be rounded up to the next whole number. For
purposes of this subdivision, "elevator" does not include an elevator
that serves only the first ground floor or any nonresidential area.
In multistory dwelling units in these buildings without elevators,
the "primary entry level entrance" means the principal entrance
through which most people enter the dwelling unit, as designated by
the California Building Standards Code or, if not designated by
California Building Standards Code, by the building official. To
determine the total number of multistory dwelling units subject to
this subdivision, all multistory dwelling units in the buildings
subject to this subdivision on a site shall be considered
collectively. This subdivision shall not be construed to require an
elevator within an individual multistory dwelling unit or within a
building subject to this subdivision. This
(2) For multistory dwellin g
units located in buildings where the closest edge or perimeter of
the building is within one-half mile of a transit station, as defined
in Section 65460.1, a failure to design and construct buildings
according to the following requirements shall be considered
"discrimination" under Section 12955:
At least 10 percent of the units in buildings without an elevator
that consist of at least four condominium dwelling units or at least
three rental apartment dwelling units shall be designed and
constructed in a manner that incorporates an accessible route to the
primary entry level entrance and meets the requirements of paragraph
(2) of subdivision (a) with respect to the ground floor, the
requirements of paragraph (1), and includes a bedroom and a kitchen
on the ground floor, both of which shall be readily accessible to and
usable by persons with disabilities.
(3) Changes to this subdivision
made during the 2009-10 Regular Session shall apply only
to multistory dwelling units in a building subject to this
subdivision for which an application for a construction permit is
submitted on or after July 1, 2005 January 1,
2011 .
(2)
(4) Notwithstanding subdivision (c), the Division of
the State Architect and the Department of Housing and Community
Development may adopt regulations to clarify, interpret, or implement
this subdivision, if either of them deem it necessary and
appropriate.
(c) Notwithstanding Section 12935, regulations adopting building
standards necessary to implement, interpret, or make specific the
provisions of this section shall be developed by the Division of the
State Architect for public housing and by the Department of Housing
and Community Development for all other residential occupancies, and
shall be adopted pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section
18935) of Part 2.5 of the Health and Safety Code. Prior to the
effective date of regulations adopted pursuant to this subdivision,
existing federal accessibility standards that provide, to persons
with disabilities, greater protections than existing state
accessibility regulations shall apply. After regulations pursuant to
this subdivision become effective, particular state regulations shall
apply if they provide, to persons with disabilities, the same
protections as, or greater protections than, the federal standards.
If particular federal regulations provide greater protections than
state regulations, then those federal standards shall apply. If the
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development determines
that any portion of the state regulations are not equivalent to the
federal standards, the federal standards shall, as to those portions,
apply to the design and construction of covered multifamily
dwellings until the state regulations are brought into compliance
with the federal standards. The appropriate state agency shall
provide notice pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter
5 (commencing with Section 11500) of Part 5 of Division 3 of Title 2)
of that determination.
(d) In investigating discrimination complaints, the department
shall apply the building standards contained in the California
Building Standards Code to determine whether a covered multifamily
dwelling is designed and constructed for access to and use by
disabled persons in accordance with this section.
(e) The building standard requirements for persons with
disabilities imposed by this section shall meet or exceed the
requirements under the federal Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988
(P.L. 100-430) and its implementing regulations (24 C.F.R. 100.1 et
seq.) and the existing state law building standards contained in the
California Building Standards Code.