Disabilities act changes clear House
The House on Thursday passed legislation that would amend the Americans With Disabilities Act over objections from disability rights advocates and Democratic leaders, who warned that the bill would remove incentives for businesses to comply with the law.
The Americans With Disabilities Act Education and Reform Act passed in a 225-192 vote, with 12 Democrats joining all but 19 Republicans to approve a bill that proponents say is aimed at curbing unscrupulous lawyers who seek profit by threatening businesses with litigation without actually seeking to improve access for the disabled.
But activists say the bill, if enacted, would essentially gut the Americans With Disabilities Act’s provisions dealing with public accommodations by removing any incentive that businesses have to comply with the law before a complaint is filed. They said the measure allows “entities to discriminate with impunity until victims experience that discrimination and educate the entities perpetrating it about their obligations not to discriminate.”
Business groups countered that the bill would stem “drive-by lawsuits” — so named because the lawyers who threaten them often do not physically inspect the premises.
In the Senate, no similar bill has emerged from a Senate committee, and several top Democrats — including Sens. Patty Murray of Washington state and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois — are strongly opposed to it.