BILL NUMBER: SB 1406 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 892
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 30, 2016
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 30, 2016
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 18, 2016
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 11, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 23, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 10, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Senator Mendoza
FEBRUARY 19, 2016
An act to add Section 54.27 to the Civil Code, and to amend
Section 8299.08 of the Government Code, relating to disability
access.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1406, Mendoza. Construction-related accessibility: education
entities.
Existing law provides that individuals with disabilities or
medical conditions have the same right as the general public to the
full and free use of the streets, highways, sidewalks, walkways,
public buildings, medical facilities, including hospitals, clinics,
and physicians' offices, public facilities, and other public places.
Existing law requires an attorney who provides a demand letter or
sends or serves a complaint containing a claim of a violation of any
construction-related accessibility standard, as defined, with respect
to a place of public accommodation, to send a copy of the demand
letter or complaint to the California Commission on Disability Access
within 5 business days of providing the demand letter or sending or
serving the complaint. Existing law further requires an attorney who
sends or serves that complaint to notify the commission of judgment,
settlement, or dismissal of the claim or claims alleged in the
complaint and other specified information within 5 business days of
the judgment, settlement, or dismissal.
This bill, with specified exceptions, would also require an
attorney who provides a prelitigation letter or sends or serves a
complaint alleging a construction-related accessibility claim, as
defined, against an education entity, as defined, to send a copy of
the prelitigation letter or complaint to the commission within 5
business days of providing the prelitigation letter or sending or
serving the complaint, would require the attorney to also submit
information about the complaint with the copy of the complaint, and
would further require the attorney to submit the notification of
judgment, settlement, or dismissal to the commission, as described
above. The bill would subject an attorney who fails to comply with
these requirements to discipline and would require the commission to
review and report on the prelitigation letters, complaints, and
notifications of case outcomes the commission receives pursuant to
these requirements, as specified.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 54.27 is added to the Civil Code, to read:
54.27. (a) An attorney who provides a prelitigation letter to an
education entity shall do both of the following:
(1) Include the attorney's State Bar license number in the
prelitigation letter.
(2) Within five business days of providing the prelitigation
letter, send a copy of the prelitigation letter to the California
Commission on Disability Access.
(b) An attorney who sends or serves a complaint against an
education entity shall do both of the following:
(1) Send a copy of the complaint and submit information about the
complaint in a standard format specified by the California Commission
on Disability Access to the commission within five business days of
sending or serving the complaint.
(2) Notify the California Commission on Disability Access within
five business days of judgment, settlement, or dismissal of the claim
or claims alleged in the complaint of the following information in a
standard format specified by the commission:
(A) The date of the judgment, settlement, or dismissal.
(B) Whether or not the construction-related accessibility
violations alleged in the complaint were remedied in whole or in part
after the plaintiff filed a complaint.
(C) If the construction-related accessibility violations alleged
in the complaint were not remedied in whole or in part after the
plaintiff filed a complaint, whether or not another favorable result
was achieved after the plaintiff filed the complaint.
(c) A violation of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) or subdivision
(b) shall constitute cause for the imposition of discipline of an
attorney if a copy of the prelitigation letter, complaint, or
notification of a case outcome is not sent to the California
Commission on Disability Access within five business days. In the
event the State Bar receives information indicating that an attorney
has failed to send a copy of the prelitigation letter, complaint, or
notification of a case outcome to the California Commission on
Disability Access within five business days, the State Bar shall
investigate to determine whether paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) or
subdivision (b) has been violated.
(d) Notwithstanding subdivisions (a) and (b), an attorney is not
required to send to the California Commission on Disability Access a
copy of any subsequent prelitigation letter or amended complaint in
the same dispute following the initial prelitigation letter or
complaint, unless that subsequent prelitigation letter or amended
complaint alleges a new construction-related accessibility claim.
(e) A prelitigation letter or notification of a case outcome sent
to the California Commission on Disability Access shall be for the
informational purposes of Section 8299.08 of the Government Code.
(f) The California Commission on Disability Access shall review
and report on the prelitigation letters, complaints, and
notifications of case outcomes it receives in the same manner as
provided in Section 8299.08 of the Government Code.
(g) Paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) and subdivision (b) shall not
apply to a prelitigation letter or complaint sent or filed by an
attorney employed or retained by a qualified legal services project
or a qualified support center, as defined in Section 6213 of the
Business and Professions Code, when acting within the scope of
employment in asserting a construction-related accessibility claim.
The Legislature finds and declares that qualified legal services
projects and support centers are extensively regulated by the State
Bar of California, and that there is no evidence of any abusive use
of demand letters or complaints by these organizations. The
Legislature further finds that, in light of the evidence of the
extraordinarily small number of construction-related accessibility
cases brought by regulated legal services programs, and given the
resources of those programs, exempting regulated legal services
programs from the requirements of this section to report to the
California Commission on Disability Access will not affect the
purpose of the reporting to, and tabulation by, the commission of all
other construction-related accessibility claims.
(h) Nothing in this section applies to a claim for money or
damages against a public entity governed by Division 3.6 (commencing
with Section 810) of Title 1 of the Government Code or makes the
requirements of this section applicable to such a claim.
(i) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(1) "Complaint" means a civil complaint that is filed or is to be
filed with a court and is sent to or served upon a defendant on the
basis of one or more construction-related accessibility claims.
(2) "Construction-related accessibility claim" or "claim" means
any claim of a violation of any construction-related accessibility
standard, as defined in paragraph (6) of subdivision (a) of Section
55.52, with respect to a public building, public facility, or other
public place of an education entity. "Construction-related
accessibility claim" does not include a claim of interference with
housing within the meaning of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of
Section 54.1, or any claim of interference caused by something other
than the construction-related accessibility condition of the
property, including, but not limited to, the conduct of any person.
(3) "Education entity" means the Regents of the University of
California, the Trustees of the California State University and the
California State University, the California Community Colleges Office
of the Chancellor and the California Community Colleges, a K-12
school district, or any local education agency.
(4) "Prelitigation letter" means a prelitigation written document
that alleges the site is in violation of one or more
construction-related accessibility standards, as defined in paragraph
(6) of subdivision (a) of Section 55.52 and is provided to the
education entity whether or not the attorney intends to file a
complaint, or eventually files a complaint, in state or federal
court. A prelitigation letter does not include a claim for money or
damages against a local public entity governed by Division 3.6
(commencing with Section 810) of Title 1 of the Government Code.
SEC. 2. Section 8299.08 of the Government Code is amended to read:
8299.08. The commission shall compile the following data with
respect to any demand letter, prelitigation letter, or complaint sent
to the commission pursuant to Section 54.27 or 55.32 of the Civil
Code and post the information on its Internet Web site, pursuant to
the following:
(a) The commission shall identify the various types of
construction-related physical access violations alleged in the demand
letters and in the complaints, respectively, and shall tabulate the
number of claims alleged for each type of violation in the demand
letters and complaints, respectively. For purposes of this
subdivision, any demand for money letters shall be grouped as demand
letters.
(b) Periodically, but not less than every six months beginning
July 31, 2013, the commission shall post on its Internet Web site a
list, by type, of the 10 most frequent types of accessibility
violations alleged in the demand letters and in the complaints,
respectively, and the numbers of alleged violations for each listed
type of violation for the prior two quarters.
(c) The commission shall, on a quarterly basis, identify and
tabulate the number of demand letters and complaints received by the
commission. The commission shall further ascertain whether a
complaint was filed in state or federal court and tabulate the number
of complaints filed in state or federal court, respectively. This
data shall be posted on the commission's Internet Web site
periodically, but not less than every six months beginning July 31,
2013.
(d) Commencing in 2014, and notwithstanding Section 10231.5, the
commission shall make an annual report to the Legislature and the
Chairs of the Senate and Assembly Committees on Judiciary by January
31 of each year of the tabulated data for the preceding calendar year
as set forth in subdivisions (a) to (c), inclusive. A report to be
submitted pursuant to this subdivision shall be submitted in
compliance with Section 9795.