§1331 Rights and Protections Under Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 Relating to Public Services and Accommodations; Procedures for Remedy of Violations

Summary

Make parts of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) apply to many congressional offices and related agencies. That list includes offices of Senators and Representatives and their committees, joint committees, the Capitol Police, the Library of Congress, the Congressional Budget Office, the Office of the Architect of the Capitol (including the Botanic Garden), the Office of the Attending Physician, the Office of Congressional Accessibility Services, the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, and the Office of Technology Assessment. The rights in ADA sections 201–230, 302, 303, and 309 apply to those entities when they provide public services, programs, or activities. A person with a disability (as defined in ADA section 201(2)) who believes one of these entities violated those rights must file a charge with the General Counsel within 180 days. The General Counsel will investigate, may ask for mediation under section 1403(b)–(d) but will not take part in the mediation, and may file a complaint that goes to a hearing officer under section 1405(b)–(h). A charging individual may intervene. Hearing officer decisions go to the Board under section 1406, and an aggrieved party can ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for review under section 1407. Remedies are the same as those under ADA sections 203 or 308(a), except employee discrimination claims by covered employees must be brought only under section 1311 of this title. If an order requires new appropriated funds, correction must occur as soon as possible but no later than the fiscal year after the fiscal year in which the order becomes final. The Board must issue rules under section 1384 that generally match the Attorney General’s and Secretary of Transportation’s ADA rules, unless the Board shows good cause to change them, and the rules must say who is responsible for fixing each type of violation. The General Counsel must inspect the listed facilities regularly and at least once each Congress and, at least once each Congress, submit a report to the Speaker, the President pro tempore, and the Office of the Architect (or other responsible entity) showing results, steps to fix problems, accessibility limits, and estimated cost and time to fix them. The period from January 23, 1995, through December 31, 1996, was set aside for identifying and fixing violations and estimating costs; the General Counsel had to do a full inspection and report for the One Hundred Fourth Congress before July 1, 1996. The Attorney General, the Secretary of Transportation, and the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board may send staff to help if asked. A “Library visitor” (someone who can bring an ADA claim against the Library of Congress, excluding claims whose only remedy is under section 1311) may either file a charge under the General Counsel process or use the remedies in 42 U.S.C. 2000e–16 as tied to ADA section 510 (except paragraph (5)); a Library visitor may switch between those two paths under the timing rules in subsection (g). Subsections (b), (c), and (d) take effect January 1, 1997. Subsection (g) takes effect one year after the study under section 1371 is sent to Congress.