FEB 1 1993

The Honorable Sam Nunn

United States Senator
75 Spring Street, S.W.
Suite 1700
Atlanta, Georgia 30303

Dear Senator Nunn:

This letter is in response to your inquiry on behalf of

James L. Cherry, concerning the American National Standards
Institute's technical specifications for the design of accessible
buildings and facilities (ANSI A117.1-1992).

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) authorizes the

Department to provide technical assistance to individuals and
entities that have rights or responsibilities under the Act.
This letter provides informal guidance to assist you in
responding to Mr. Cherry. However, this technical assistance
does not constitute a determination by the Department of Justice
of the rights or responsibilities of any individual under the
ADA, and it is not binding on the Department of Justice.

The Department of Justice regulation implementing title III

of the ADA establishes the requirements that govern the new
construction of facilities subject to title III. The regulation
adopts the ADA Accessibility Guidelines as the Federal
accessibility standard for places of public accommodation and
commercial facilities. The ADA does not require States to amend
their building codes to incorporate the ADA Accessibility
Guidelines, but it does establish a procedure by which States can
request the Department to certify that their accessibility codes
meet or exceed the ADA's requirements.

The ADA does not authorize the Department to certify model

codes or other private sector standards, such as the American
National Standards Institute, but the title III regulation
provides that the Department will, upon request, provide
cc: Records; Chrono; Wodatch; McDowney; Blizard; FOIA; MAF.
:udd:blizard:control:nunn

01-01883​

-2-

technical assistance to the ANSI committee and other private

sector organizations that develop model accessibility standards
and model codes to assist them in determining if their models are
consistent with the requirements of the ADA. Even though we are
reviewing a June draft of the ANSI A117.1 Standard at the request
of the Council of American Building Officials, which serves as
the secretariat for the ANSI A117.1 Committee, the Department has
not received the Committee's final proposal so that it is not
possible to determine whether the draft Standard will be
consistent with ADA requirements. We plan to respond to the
Council of American Building Officials inquiry as promptly as our
resources permit.

In his letter, Mr. Cherry noted that he wants to recommend

the adoption of the 1992 ANSI standard as the Georgia
accessibility code because, in his view, it appears "to correct
some glitches" in ADA Accessibility Guidelines. Mr. Cherry
should be aware that compliance with the ADA Accessibility
Guidelines is required by Federal law. The ANSI A117.1 committee
is free to comment on, or request amendments to, the ADA
Accessibility Guidelines; but no action by the ANSI committee, or
by any State adopting the ANSI technical requirements, can
relieve any individual of the obligation to comply fully with the
requirements of the ADA. Any State Government that plans to seek
certification of its accessibility code must ensure that its code
requirements meet or exceed the requirements of the ADA
established in the title III regulation.

I have enclosed a copy of the title III regulation and the

Department's Technical Assistance Manual. The new construction
and alteration requirements are addressed at pages 35599-35602
and 35574-35589 of the regulation, and pages 43-64 of the Manual.
Certification is discussed at pages 35603-04 and 35590-35592 of
the regulation, and pages 68-73 of the Manual.

I hope that this information is helpful to you in responding

to your constituent.
 Sincerely,

James P. Turner
Acting Assistant Attorney General
Civil Rights Division

Enclosures (2)

01-01884​

AMERICANS WITH
DISABILITIES
ASSOCIATION INC. James L. Cherry, J.D., Ph.D.
Founder - National Chairman

November 10, 1992

Honorable San Nunn

United States Senator
United States Senate
Washington, D. C.

RE: Department of Justice

Office of Americans With Disabilities Act

Dear Senator Nunn:

I am working with the Georgia Safety Fire Commissioner,

State Fire Marshal and Department of Vocation Rehabilitation to
craft some state legislation that would bring the state acces-
sibility code for people with disabilities into conformity with
the federal Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA).

The existing Georgia access code incorporates by reference

the 1986 version of the American National Standards Institution
(ANSI - A117.1-1986) specifications for making buildings acces-
sible to and usable by people with disabilities. Georgia's code
for disability access does not conform with the federal law, and
state or local officials are only authorized by law to approve
construction plans based upon state law that is not in conformity
with the ADA.
 Since we had ANSI A-117.1-1986 standards placed in state law
in 1987, the Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted in 1990
and the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines
(ADAAG) were promulgated by the DOJ and became effective on July
26, 1991. The ADAAG was an improvement over the 1986 acces-
sibility standards developed by ANSI.

ANSI is a national consensus standard that is preferred by

many construction officials, and now ANSI has revised its stan-
dards on accessibility to reflect and improve upon the ADAAG.
Coincidentally, ANSI has a policy of reviewing ANSI accessibility
standards every six years. Therefore, the 1992 ANSI revisions
are in line with their review policy.

The revised ANSI A117.1-1992 version of the standards will

be published in December, 1992. I reviewed an advance copy of
the new ANSI A117.1-1992 and have determined that those standards
ADA-PAC
America's First Political Action Committee For People With Disabilities
625 Reds Circle Lilburn, Georgia 30247 (404) 921-5822
01-01885​

may be superior to the ADAAG, since the ANSI accessibility stan-

dards appear to correct some glitches identified within the ADAAG
that have now been in effect since 1991.

I am inclined to craft Georgia state legislation to incor-

porate the 1992 version of ANSI-A117.1 into state law, provided
the U.S. Department of Justice determines that ANSI-A117.1-1992
standards are substantially equivalent to ADAAG, thereby estab-
lishing that compliance with ANSI-A117.1-1992 would constitute
compliance with the accessibility requirements of the Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990.

The Department of Justice, Office of the Americans With Dis-

abilities Act, has been reviewing this question since the advance
copy of the 1992 ANSI A117.1 standards were made available in
July 1992, but no findings have been reported.

To expedite our decision on which standard to use in a

proposed new state law, we need a decision from the DOJ on two
questions:

1. In the opinion of DOJ, does the ANSI A117.1-1992 acces-

sibility standards meet or exceed the ADAAG standards?
2. Will the DOJ Certify that ANSI A117.1-1992 is substantially
equivalent to the ADAAG for purposes of complying with the ADA?
If so, when?

These decisions are needed soon in Georgia, because we are

preparing legislation to be presented to the 1993 Georgia General
Assembly. Specifically, I am asking for your timely help
with an inquiry to the DOJ, Office of ADA to determine an answer
to the above questions.

Thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter.

Please call me at any time if you need further explanation of
this situation.
Very truly,

James L. Cherry, J.D., Ph.D.

Chairman

JLC/rsc

01-01886