ABA: The Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) of 1968 is a U.S. federal law that requires buildings and facilities that were designed, built, altered, or leased with federal funds to be accessible to persons with disabilities. While this law may not apply to private businesses, they still have an obligation for ‘barrier removal’ (see definition below).

ADA: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in everyday activities. See Title II and Title III definitions.

Barrier Removal: The ADA Title III technical assistance manual (codified at 28 CFR 36.102-36.104) describes III-4.4000 Removal of barriers as, “…. are physical elements of a facility that impede access by people with disabilities.” It goes on to clarify that these barriers must be removed if ‘readily achievable), which means, “easily accomplishable and able to be carried out without much difficulty or expense.” This is a topic that has to be analyzed at each site/business individually and a plan of action implemented to help achieve compliance. This is a service that we can help your business with. Additional information on these definitions can be found here.

CASp: CASp stands for Certified Access Specialist. It is a certification program in California designed to meet the public’s need for experienced, trained, and tested individuals who can inspect buildings and sites for compliance with applicable state and federal construction-related accessibility standards. A list of CASp can be found at the DSA (Division of the State Architect) website.

CRASCA: CRASCA stands for Construction-Related Accessibility Standards Compliance Act, it is a legislative framework in California that enhances the Certified Access Specialist program. It aims to improve accessibility compliance in public accommodations by ensuring businesses have access to certified specialists who can advise on and verify compliance with state and federal accessibility standards. This act supports the CASp program by providing funding and resources to maintain and expand the certification and training of specialists. The main goal is to prevent accessibility-related litigation by promoting proactive compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and related state laws, thus fostering a more accessible environment for individuals with disabilities.

Hardship: See Unreasonable hardship.

Path of Travel: The “path of travel” in the context of accessibility refers to a continuous, unobstructed way of pedestrian passage by means of which the various accessible elements and spaces of a building or facility can be approached, entered, and used by individuals with disabilities. This concept is critical in ensuring compliance with accessibility laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). A path of travel must include features such as sidewalks, hallways, corridors, ramps, elevators, and doorways that are accessible and usable by people who use wheelchairs or other mobility aids. In accessibility upgrades or renovations, the path of travel must often be upgraded to current standards, ensuring that it leads to primary function areas such as entrances, restrooms, and other key services, facilitating equal access for all individuals.

Readily achievable: See defintion of Barrier Removal.

Schedule of completion: If a CRASCA compliant inspection is performed, a CASp must provide a schedule of completion to the business within 30 days and a form notice to the DSA within 10 days of limited information on the inspection and site. This schedule shall include a reasonable timeline for correction of the noted deficiencies. If the schedule is 120 days or less and the business does complete the required work, and the business qualifies as a small business, they receive the benefit of immunity from statutory damages for those corrected violations in any subsequent accessibility lawsuit. If the schedule of completion goes beyond 120 days then they potentially could lose this benefit.

Technically Infeasible: An alteration of a building or a facility that has little likelihood of being accomplished because the existing structural conditions require the removal or alteration of a load-bearing member that is an essential part of the structural frame, or because other existing physical or site constraints prohibit modification or addition of elements, spaces or features which are in full and strict compliance with the minimum requirements for new construction and which are necessary to provide accessibility.
Where the enforcing authority determines compliance with applicable requirements is technically infeasible, the alteration shall provide equivalent facilitation or comply with the requirements to the maximum extent feasible. The details of the finding that full compliance with the requirements is technically infeasible shall be recorded and entered into the files of the enforcing agency.

Title II (part A and B): State and local governments, including public education facilities, courts, public transit departments and services etc. These entities must provide people with disabilities an equal opportunity to benefit from all of their programs, services, and activities.

 Title III: Businesses and nonprofits serving the public as well as privately operated transit and to some extent, commercial facilities such as offices and factories/warehouses. These entities must provide people with disabilities an equal opportunity to access the goods or services that they offer as well as certain protections and rights for persons employed at or visiting these facilities.

Unreasonable Hardship: When the enforcing agency finds that compliance with the building standard would make the specific work of the project affected by the building standard infeasible, based on an overall evaluation of the following factors:

1. The cost of providing access.
2. The cost of all construction contemplated.
3. The impact of proposed improvements on financial feasibility of the project.
4. The nature of the accessibility which would be gained or lost.
5. The nature of the use of the facility under construction and its availability to persons with disabilities.
   The details of any finding of unreasonable hardship shall be recorded and entered in the files of the enforcing agency.

Many jurisdictions ask for a ‘hardship form’ even when the project valuation is under the current DSA valuation threshold. This is not a requirement of the CBC but it is a commonly held misconception. There is no requirement for a written finding to be recorded on smaller projects that are under the valuation threshold, but since the local building official has the power to ask for documentation that exceeds the state laws, we generally do submit a form recording project expenses. I personally refer to this as a ‘Summary of Accessibility Upgrades” form.

When under the current DSA valuation threshold, the cost of compliance with Section 11B-202.4 shall be limited to 20 percent of the adjusted construction cost. When over the current DSA valuation threshold, compliance shall be provided by equivalent facilitation or to the greatest extent possible without creating an unreasonable hardship; but in no case shall the cost of compliance be less than 20 percent of the adjusted construction cost

Valuation Threshold: The DSA valuation threshold is the annually updated figure used when determining path of travel accessibility requirements in alterations, additions and structural repair construction projects regulated by California Building Code Chapter 11B. It is updated every January.