On Tuesday, Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that would make it harder for people to take advantage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Under Senate Bill 269, small businesses with less than 50 employees would have time to fix access violations. Small businesses can hire a Certified Access Specialist (CASp) and would have 120 days to fix any violations. If the business was being sued, they would have 15 days to address those violations. The legislation also requires local governments to inform businesses of changing ADA laws.
Assemblymember Kristin Olsen, who helped write the bill, says 40% OF ADA lawsuits are filed in California, yet only 12 percent of the national disabled community lives in the state. She's hoping to reform ADA laws to increase access but protect local small businesses from "frivolous and abusive lawsuits."
For Travis Hausauer, the owner of Squeeze Inn, it's a day to celebrate. Hausauer was slapped with an expensive ADA lawsuit in 2009, forcing his popular burger joint to relocate.
"As a business owner, when you open a business, you put your heart and soul into it, usually your life savings. And then you have someone come along and sue when you can't afford to keep your doors open," Hausauer said. "I call that a dream killer. Because it kills dreams for that individual."
The bill allowing businesses to fix violations before having to pay damages makes a huge difference for Hausauer.
"For most small businesses, the minor things are something you can fix," said Hausauer.
Some examples of those minor violations: toilet paper rolls that are too low or too high, toilet flush handles that are on the side closest to the wall, sidewalks that are painted the wrong color, or even parking lines that are a quarter of an inch off.
Those violations could cost thousands of dollars, often forcing small business owners to close doors. That ends up hurting everybody, not just the business. Hausauer estimates that thousands of small businesses in the Sacramento have gone out of business because of expensive ADA lawsuits.
"As far as access goes, [then] nobody has access," Hausauer said.
In fact, Hausauer says the people who have been benefiting the most from ADA lawsuits are those abusing the original intent of the law.
"Certain lawyers would go around and sue small businesses and make a living out of it," Hausauer said. "They could make millions of dollars a year suing small businesses."
Assemblymember Olsen agrees.
"Most of the ADA lawsuits really have nothing to do with helping members of the disabled community with increasing access," Olsen said. "What they're really about is lining the pockets of attorneys and plaintiffs that really at times are using Google Earth to zoom down into a business to see if their is striping isn't exactly right."
Another part of the bill would require local government building departments to let small businesses know when ADA regulations change. Hausauer also agrees that's a good thing.
"As a small business, you're just worried about keeping your doors open, keeping your costs down, you don't keep track of legislation that goes on," Hausauer said. "So I think that's a great opportunity for small businesses to actually make changes and be proactive instead of being reactive after they get sued."
Hausauer is happy with what's being done, but he hopes further legislation will give businesses more time to fix violations that may take more than 15 days.
Assemblymember Olsen also believes there is more work to do to reform ADA legislation to help the disabled community while protecting small businesses.