Ada Education and Reform Act of 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Chair, I rise to offer my amendment to H.R. 620.

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Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Chairman, my amendment would ensure that the Department of Justice takes appropriate actions to provide ADA compliance materials for businessowners whose primary language is not English.

As a Representative from California's Central Valley, my district is far too familiar with the kinds of abusive lawsuits H.R. 620 aims to curb.

For years, small businesses--some that make less than $30,000 a year--have been targeted by ``drive-by'' lawsuits from people who are driving by--many of whom are from outside of our State and, certainly, outside of our community. They have been slapped with demands for thousands, even tens of thousands, of dollars for minor infractions, like faded parking signs or outdated signage or stripes in the parking lot.

More often than not, the lawyer or plaintiff didn't even enter the business in the first place. In too many cases, these lawsuits did not lead to compliance. They led to shakedowns and shutdowns.

Throughout California and, certainly, throughout California's Central Valley, we have seen a number of minority businesses and businesses as a whole, small businesses, that have been shut down by many of these shakedown lawsuits where the attorney will call back and say: I understand that you can't pay us today, but we will put you on a monthly plan.

That doesn't solve any problems for those with disabilities. It certainly doesn't solve any problems for the businesses. All it does is line the pockets of some abusers that are coming into our area that will target dozens of businesses in a day's or week's time, only to leave our community without even going into these businesses.

In my district alone, Barnwood Restaurant in Ripon was sued and shut down. Main Street Inn in Ripon was sued. Country Ford Trucks in Ceres was sued. The city hall in Escalon was sued.

In Turlock, my hometown, seven businesses less than a mile apart on the same road were sued by the same plaintiff. Forty-three businesses in the city of Modesto were all sued by the same plaintiff.

California has been ground zero for this lawsuit abuse. Even the State legislature in a State that is not considered conservative by any means has had a number of ADA lawsuit measures aimed at trying to curb those.

The Federal Government has a job to fix this, and that is one of the reasons that I am a coauthor and support the ADA Education and Reform Act. I especially support its provisions to increase businessowner education on ADA compliance, which I believe my amendment can help to strengthen.

In California, 75 percent of the businesses targeted by these types of lawsuits are immigrant- or minority-owned businesses. These demographics are more unlikely to be familiar with ADA standards as well as their own legal rights. That is the reason for the shakedown of these minority-owned businesses.

One obstacle for these types of businesspeople is that the vast majority of the DOJ's compliance resources aren't readily available in other languages that they may need to be made available. For example, key sections of a Spanish-translated web page haven't been updated for 3 years and doesn't include close to the number of materials available in English. With a district like mine that is over 40 percent Hispanic, this is a real problem.

If you want businesses to comply with the law, you have to give these businesses the opportunity to comply. Give them the ability to read from their own website what new laws are going into effect every single year. Because if only the lawyers know, then the shakedowns will continue to occur and businesses will continue to lose more of their profits and be unable to provide raises and bonuses to their employees. But worse than that, you will continue to see small businesses shut down.

Let me finish on one final note. A few years ago I received a phone call in my office. We had been focused on ADA lawsuit abuse for quite some time. I talked to the lady about her concerns. She explained how she had received a notice in the mail and then a follow-up notice. No attorney had ever come into her restaurant--a small-business owner. She was just trying to make ends meet. In fact, she was not only the proprietor of this restaurant, but she worked the kitchen. In fact, she started the business and worked the front end and the back end. She was the first to come and the last to leave.

We have heard a lot of these stories about small businesses and the regulatory impacts that they face. But in this case, I was amazed to find out when I visited that she was more than happy to fix any ADA compliance issue. As she wheeled around in her wheelchair from her kitchen to the cash register, and her Spanish language being the first language that she knew, she wanted to fix things for her customers and fix things for those who are coming in with disabilities.

We need to give her the opportunity to do that.

Mr. Chair, I ask for support of this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. DENHAM. Will the gentleman yield?

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Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Chair, I look forward to working with the gentleman.

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