MEMORANDUM 
Date: December 27, 1994
To: Senator Dole
From: Alec Vachon 
RE: BIG ADA MILESTONE COMING UP--JANUARY 26, 1995  
(Handwritten) OR (illegible)

By January 26, 1995, state and local governments are supposed to have completed all architectural and structural changes to make their services accessible that they had identified in their transition plans (which were to have been completed by June 1992). (All non-structural changes were to have been made by March 26, 1992.) As you know, for most State & local governments ADA makes few new requirements over the accessibility mandate of section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act--so the past 5 years since ADA was passed have been an additional "grace period" for making State & local government services accessible on top of the 14 years since the 504 regs became effective in 1977. 

We should expect a lot of media attention on ADA as this date approaches--ATTACHED ARE THREE AP WIRE STORIES ON STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT ADA COMPLIANCE--FROM MASSACHUSETTS, MICHIGAN, AND WASHINGTON STATE. The articles are actually good--KEY POINTS: 

--Compliance is uneven across the country--a lot has been done, but quite a bit remains. [No surprise.] 

--ADA is a program or service accessibility law, not one that mandates complete architectural accessibility. State or local government don't have to make their buildings accessible--if they can figure out another way to provide services to their disabled citizens.(KANSAS EXAMPLE: In Scott County, the county commissioners moved the courtroom from an inaccessible second floor to the accessible first floor, and then moved many county offices to the second floor. There is a buzzer on the first floor, and when pressed a clerk comes downstairs to take care of any business on the second floor for anyone who can't make it upstairs.) 

--Curb cuts are probably the biggest single expense faced by most cities and towns. 




AP 12-26-94 00:58 EST 79 Lines. Copyright 1994. All rights reserved. 
MANY CITIES SLOW IN REMOVING BARRIERS FOR DISABLED< 
By JONATHAN YENKIN Associated Press Writer 
BOSTON (AP) Almost five years after Congress passed a sweeping law to open government's doors to the disabled, many public buildings still don't have elevators, modified bathroom stalls or doorways wide enough for wheelchairs.
And most cities won't have the mandated improvements in place by next month's deadline. ''There's no city or town on the face of this Earth that's going to be 100 percent fully in compliance,'' says Lowell Haynes, a planner for Newton, Mass., which has a schedule of projects going into 1997.
The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act has been hailed as the most significant civil rights legislation since the 1964 law prohibiting racial discrimination.
It bans discrimination against the disabled in job opportunities, public accommodations, transportation and telecommunications. About 49 million Americans have disabilities.
Under the law, local governments have until Jan. 26 to make structural changes ensuring that disabled people have access to their services. Governments that miss the deadline can be fined up to $50,000 for the first violation and $100,000 for subsequent violations.
''Frankly, we've found just in the last two or three months there seems to be a scramble on by cities and towns to get something in the works so they can plead not guilty,'' said Bob Williams, president of The Access Group, a consulting firm in Woburn, Mass.
Hamilton Brown, an expert on the law for the National Association of Towns and Townships, said many governments haven't evaluated the accessibility of their services a step that was required two years ago.
Of those that have done the evaluations, he estimated only about half have made the necessary structural changes. 
In Grand Rapids, Mich., the city expects to comply with the law for its most heavily used public buildings. But other jobs remain, such as curb cuts to make sidewalks accessible to wheelchairs at intersections. 
In Massachusetts, a recent legislative report found nearly one-third of the police departments in the state don't comply with the federal law.
The town of Swampscott, north of Boston, was recently ordered to move public meetings out of its historic town hall because people in wheelchairs couldn't get inside the building. 
''I think there's a long ways to go,'' said Raymond S. Davis, acting director of the National Council on Disability. ''From what I'm hearing, cities and towns are late getting into the game.''
Many officials say the cost of refurbishing buildings is prohibitive. The U.S. Conference of Mayors has estimated the law will cost cities more than $2 billion through 1998. 
The Justice Department has sought to allay fears by telling communities that if they can't alter a building, they can find alternate ways to accommodate people with disabilities. 
For example, an agency that is inaccessible on a second-floor can make arrangements to serve disabled people on the ground floor. 
But Attorney General Janet Reno has made it clear that the department plans to enforce compliance. 
''Too many have taken a wait-and-see attitude to determine whether the Justice Department is serious about forcing compliance,'' Reno said in July. ''I have just one answer: We are serious.'' 
Some advocates for the disabled say legal action might be needed to prod some communities into action. 
''The notice was sent out in 1990, so they have had time,'' Davis said. ''If they are just getting started in the last few months, it tells me they are not going to do anything until 
they are forced.'' 
The Justice Department's toll-free number for advice on the act is: 1-800-514-0301 or (TDD) 1-800-514-0383. Its hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST Monday through Friday, except Thursdays, 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Spanish language information is available. 




AP 12-26-94 03:33 EST 97 Lines. Copyright 1994. All rights reserved. 
MICHIGAN MAKING PROGRESS IN COMPLYING WITH DISABLED ACCESS LAW< 
By BRIAN S. AKRE Associated Press Writer 
School officials in Boyne City didn't have the money to make the small town's 68-year-old gymnasium accessible to the disabled. So they decided to close it next month, angering many residents who use it.
The move was unnecessary and an example of how local officials often misinterpret the Americans With Disabilities Act, supporters of the federal law say.
The law requires public services and programs to be made accessible to the disabled. That does not always mean physical renovations to buildings where the services are provided. ''Unfortunately, this is one of the least understood provisions of the law,'' said Patrick Cannon, executive director of the Michigan Commission on Handicapper Concerns. 
''A lot of people think the ADA will force school districts and cities to spend millions of dollars they don't have. That's not the case.''
Overall, Michigan's municipalities, school districts and the state have made progress in complying the law, Cannon said. While many public agencies in Michigan will not meet the law's Jan. 26 deadline to make all public buildings and programs accessible, enough headway has been made in most cases to avoid any problems, he said.
Robin Jones, director of the Great Lakes Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center in Chicago, said that after Jan. 26 the disabled will be able to file complaints under the ADA to force access to public services.
 ''There are no ADA police,'' she said. ''It's going to be an issue of citizens who know their rights and file complaints.'' Kalmin Smith, a state Labor Department official who heads the state ADA committee, said federal officials have told him Michigan is far ahead of most other states in meeting the law's requirements.
That is due in part to a state law passed in the mid-1970s that set standards for handicapped access to private and public buildings. In some areas where the standards differ, the state may seek exemptions, Smith said. In Boyne City, school officials thought they had no choice but to close the middle school's cafeteria-gymnasium building, which has a gym on the second floor.
The cost of installing an outside elevator was estimated at between $200,000 and $400,000. The board thought spending that much would be foolish given the building's age. The school district's attorney said that didn't matter, that the law allowed exceptions only if the cost would pose an ''undue burden'' on the district.
The district has gone to voters four times for a tax increase to pay for a new middle school, which would include a new gym. Each time, the voters said ''no.'' So the school board recently decided to close the gym on Jan. 26.
''I'm getting all kinds of heat from our community because the men's basketball league wants to use it,'' Superintendent Bob Nakoneczny said. 
At a meeting last week, Cannon and Jones told the board it could keep the gym open as long as it tried to accommodate the disabled and made efforts to resolve the problem in the long term. 
''We want jobs and access to government services,'' said Cannon, who is blind. ''It's not our intention to shut down school building so others can't use it either.''
Nakoneczny said the board probably will reverse its decision at a meeting next month. But no public assemblies will be held there. Middle school basketball games already are being played at another school. 
''And that still does not prevent a handicapped individual from filing a complaint because they can't go up there and watch a men's basketball league game,'' he said. 
Eventually, the district will either have to spend money to renovate the 1926 building or tear it down, Nakoneczny said. 
Jones, who provides ADA information to agencies throughout the Great Lakes region, said misunderstanding of the law is most common in small towns. The elected .officials often serve 
part-time and have no in-house legal counsel, so it is difficult for them to keep up on legal issues.
Small-town buildings also tend to be older with major access problems, like entrances at the top of stairs, and second-floor meeting rooms, Jones said. 
In larger towns, the problem more often is the sheer volume of work required. Grand Rapids, for example, expects to meet the law's requirements for its most used public buildings. But there's a backlog of curb cuts to make sidewalks accessible to wheelchairs at intersections. 
Curb cuts will cost Grand Rapids about $9 million and represent about 90 percent of its ADA expenses, said Ingrid Scott-Weekley, city equal opportunity director. 
''There's just no way we can get that done soon. Think of the number of curbs in a city at every intersection it's just extremely costly.'' 




AP 12-27-94 15:26 EST 76 Lines. Copyright 1994. All rights reserved. 
GOVERNMENT OFFICES MORE ACCESSIBLE, CRITICS SAY MORE NEEDED< 
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) Government agencies in Washington have spent millions of dollars to comply with a federal law requiring improved access for the handicapped, but critics of the efforts say there is much left to be done. 
''We're still far from perfect, but things are getting better,'' said Spokane County Auditor Bill Donahue, who previously couldn't get his wheelchair into the restrooms near his second-floor office.
Government agencies were required to make their buildings more accessible under the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. The deadline for compliance is Jan. 26. 
Washington has spent $9.3 million on improvements to state facilities, including installation of wheelchair ramps, elevators, bathroom remodeling and telephones for the hearing impaired. The two-year budget proposed this month by Gov. Mike Lowry includes another $9 million for improvements.
The city of Spokane has spent about $100,000 to comply with the law, Affirmative Action Director Dorothy Webster said. Improvements include new electric doors, assisted listening devices at City Hall and the Opera House and a wheelchair ramp in City Council chambers.
Spokane County has spent about $205,000 on improved building access, new telephones and signs printed with Braille and raised letters.
The county and city both spent less than officials had expected when the Americans with Disabilities Act passed. ''You'll find that the Washington state (building) code is a little more strict than the ADA codes,'' said Wes Whaley, director of maintenance for Spokane County buildings. 
''This hasn't been as big a shock to our state as it was in some other states,'' he said.
National disabled-advocate groups have criticized lagging efforts in some areas. In Massachusetts, for example, a legislative report found that one-third of that state's police 
departments aren't in compliance with the disabilities law.
Local governments in Washington have not reported significant difficulty complying, a spokeswoman for the Governor's Committee on Disability Issues and Employment said. 
Wiley Marks, executive director of the Coalition for Responsible Disabled, contended improvements around Spokane were relatively cheap because local agencies haven't done enough.
''If you want a real eye-opener, go with somebody in a wheelchair who needs to get from one side of town to another side,'' he said.'' If they've been doing it for awhile, they know which way to go, and it's not necessarily the shortest route.''
The new Spokane Public Library has been criticized for handicap access. The U.S. Department of Education is investigating complaints that parking spaces for the disabled are too far from the library entrance and that the route is too steep for wheelchairs. Library administrators say they've complied with the disabilities act. 
The Department of Education won't release details until its investigation is complete.
Bill Blaine, whose daughter uses a wheelchair, has sent some 50 letters to federal agencies asking them to investigate alleged violations of the disabilities act around Spokane. 
''It's almost like the city and the county are trying to avoid compliance,'' he said.
Some agencies and facilities have sought input from the disabled on their needs. Spokane County's Public Facilities District formed a committee of disabled residents to help design the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, which will open next year. 
Spokane International Airport took advice from a similar group before deciding on $5 million in improvements. Marks said such efforts are a step in the right direction. 
''If some of those other organizations were making the same effort, we could work with that,'' he said.