July 5, 2004—The U.S. Access Board is developing new guidelines covering access to facilities covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). These guidelines will overhaul the existing ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG), which were first published in 1991. As part of this effort, the Board is also revising its guidelines for federally funded facilities required to be accessible under the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA). Both the ADA guidelines and the ABA guidelines specify access in both new construction and alterations and provide detailed provisions for various building elements, including ramps, elevators, restrooms, parking, and signage.
In February, the Board completed its work on these guidelines and submitted them to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the clearinghouse for Federal regulations. OMB, which originally scheduled 90 days for its review, recently indicated that it will require an additional 30 days. OMB is now expected to complete its review by late June. The final guidelines will not be publicly available until cleared by OMB.
The Board will publish the new guidelines as approved by OMB in the Federal Register and will post copies on its Web site. Publication is scheduled for July 26th. The updated guidelines, as published by the Board, will not be mandatory as a design standard. Other agencies, such as the departments of Justice and Transportation under the ADA, and several others under the ABA, are authorized to set the design standards that must be met according to the Boards guidelines. These agencies will update their enforceable standards based on the Boards final guidelines. As part of this action, the agencies will specify when the updated standards take effect.
The process for these agencies to complete their rulemaking and update their enforceable standards will take at least one year and possibly longer.
Based on a report from BOMA International From BOMA.org
