[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 117 (Monday, June 20, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-14666]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: June 20, 1994]
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Part IV
Department of Transportation
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Office of the Secretary
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49 CFR Parts 27 and 37
Transportation for Individuals With Disabilities; Proposed Rule
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Office of the Secretary
49 CFR Parts 27 and 37
[Docket 49602; Notice 94-8]
RIN 2105-AC06
Transportation for Individuals With Disabilities
AGENCY: Department of Transportation, Office of the Secretary.
ACTION: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM).
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SUMMARY: The Department is proposing to amend its rules implementing
the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by adopting as its standards
revised accessibility guidelines issued by the Architectural and
Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board). The Access
Board has published these revised accessibility guidelines as interim
final rules elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register. The
proposed rule would also make a conforming change to the Department's
rule implementing section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as
amended. The rules would expand the Department's accessibility
standards to cover public rights-of-way and other subjects added by the
Access Board to its guidelines.
DATES: Comments are requested by August 19, 1994. Late-filed comments
will be considered to the extent practicable.
ADDRESSES: Comments on this proposed rule should be sent, preferably in
triplicate, to Docket Clerk, Docket No., 49602 Department of
Transportation, 400 7th Street SW., Room 4107, Washington, DC, 20590.
Comments will be available for inspection at this address from 9:00
a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Commenters who wish the
receipt of their comments to be acknowledged should include a stamped,
self-addressed postcard with their comments. The Docket Clerk will
date-stamp the postcard and mail it back to the commenter.
Comments on the Access Board interim final rule establishing
revised Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines for
Buildings and Facilities, which underlies this rule and which is
published elsewhere in today's Federal Register, should be sent to:
Office of the General Counsel, Architectural and Transportation
Barriers Compliance Board, 1331 F Street, NW., Suite 1000, Washington,
DC, 20004-1111. For further information on comments, see the beginning
of SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert C. Ashby, Deputy Assistant
General Counsel for Regulation and Enforcement, Department of
Transportation, 400 7th Street, SW., Room 10424, Washington, DC, 20590.
(202) 366-9306 (voice); (202) 755-7687 (TDD). Copies will be made
available in alternative formats on request.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: All timely comments received by the Access
Board on its guidelines published December 21, 1992 (57 FR 60612), and
on its interim final rule published today, will be deemed by the
Department to have been submitted in response to this proposed rule and
will be considered fully as the Department works toward a final rule
based on this proposal. Therefore, it is not necessary for any comments
submitted to the Board on its proposed or interim rules to be
resubmitted to the Department.
Elsewhere in today's Federal Register, the Architectural and
Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (ATBCB) is publishing
amendments to its accessibility guidelines for buildings and
facilities, relating to state and local government facilities. The
Department's September 6, 1991, final Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA) rule (49 CFR Part 37) adopted the original version of these
guidelines, known as the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility
Guidelines (ADAAG), as its accessibility standards for facilities
subject to Part 37. The standards are codified as Appendix A to 49 CFR
Part 37.
This proposed rule would adopt the amended Access Board guidelines
as a new Appendix A to Part 37, replacing the Department's current
Appendix A. The Access Board received public comments on its proposed
guidelines, published on December 21, 1992, and will receive comments
again on today's interim final rule. As a member of the Access Board,
the Department will be actively involved in the review and analysis of
comments the Access Board receives and in making any revisions on the
guidelines in response to those comments. Therefore, the Department has
proposed to adopt the amended guidelines as its accessibility
standards. Comments submitted to the Access Board will be considered by
the Department as comments on this proposed rule, and need not be
separately submitted to the Department.
Consistent with the Department of Justice's existing rule
implementing Title II of the ADA, for state and local government
facilities, the Department's rule implementing section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (49 CFR Part 27) gives recipients the
choice, in some circumstances, of complying either with the ADAAG or
with the older Uniform Federal Accessibility Standard (UFAS). In its
ADA proposal being published today, DOJ is proposing to eliminate the
option to use UFAS. Title II entities would have to use ADAAG in all
cases. To remain consistent with Access Board and Department of Justice
actions, the Department is also proposing to eliminate the UFAS option.
To this end, the Department proposes to revise its 504 rule to require
design, construction, or alteration of all facilities subject to Part
27 to conform to the revised AADAG. As a technical amendment, the
Department is also proposing to update a reference in Part 27 to
Department of Justice ADA regulations.
On November 30, 1993, the Department amended Part 37 to extend the
compliance deadline for the requirement to install detectable warnings
on platform edges of key rail stations. The final rule reaffirmed the
Department's view that detectable warnings are an essential safety
feature of rail stations for persons with impaired vision. The
Department is not, through this proposal, seeking further comment on
the issue of detectable warnings on rail station platform edges. The
Department will regard any comments received on this subject as outside
the scope of this rulemaking.
Regulatory Analyses and Notices
This NPRM has been reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget
under Executive Order 12866. The Access Board has analyzed the impact
of applying its amendments to ADAAG to entities covered by Titles II
and III of the ADA and has determined that they are a significant
regulatory action for purposes of the Executive Order. The Access Board
has also prepared a Regulatory Assessment, which includes a cost impact
analysis for certain accessibility elements and a discussion of the
regulatory alternatives considered. This Regulatory Assessment applies
to the Department's proposed adoption of the Access Board's guidelines.
Comments submitted to the Access Board on its Regulatory Assessment
will be considered by the Department as comments on this NPRM.
The Access Board has determined that its guidelines will have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities
and, therefore, has included in its Regulatory Assessment a Regulatory
Flexibility Analysis. The Access Board has made every effort to lessen
the economic impacts of its proposed rule on small entities, but
recognizes that such impacts are the necessary result of the mandate of
the ADA itself. The Access Board's flexibility analysis also applies to
the Department's proposed adoption of the revised ADAAG.
The Access Board also made every effort to lessen the impact of its
proposed guidelines on state and local governments, but recognizes that
the guidelines will have some federalism impacts. These impacts are
discussed in the Access Board's Regulatory Assessment which, as noted
above, also applies to this NPRM.
List of Subjects
49 CFR Part 27
Administrative practice and procedure, Airports, Civil rights,
Individuals with disabilities, Highways and roads, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements, Transportation.
49 CFR Part 37
Buildings and facilities, Buses, Civil rights, Individuals with
disabilities, Mass transportation, Railroads, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements, Transportation.
Issued this 3rd day of May 1994, at Washington, DC.
Federico Pena,
Secretary of Transportation.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the Department proposes
to amend subtitle A of title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations as
set forth below:
PART 27--[AMENDED]
1. The authority citation for part 27, would continue to read as
follows:
Authority: Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as
amended (29 U.S.C. 794); secs. 16(a) and 16(d) of the Federal
Transit Act of 1964, as amended; sec. 165(b) of the Federal-aid
Highway Act of 1973 (49 U.S.C. 142 nt.); the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101-12213); and 49 U.S.C. 322.
2. In Sec. 27.3, paragraph (b) is proposed to be revised to read as
follows:
Sec. 27.3 Applicability.
* * * * *
(b) Design, construction, or alteration of buildings or other fixed
facilities by entities subject to section 504 shall be in conformance
with Appendix A to part 37 of this title.
Sec. 27.19 [Amended]
3. Section 27.19 is proposed to be amended, in paragraph (a), by
revising the parenthetical following the words ``the regulations of the
Department of Justice implementing Titles II and III of the ADA'' to
read ``(28 CFR Parts 35, 36, and 37)''.
PART 37--[AMENDED]
4. The authority citation for part 37, would continue to read as
follows:
Authority: The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42
U.S.C. 12101-12213); and 49 U.S.C. 322.
5. Appendix A to Part 37, ``Standards for Accessible Transportation
Facilities,'' is proposed to be amended as follows:
Appendix A to Part 37--Standards for Accessible Transportation
Facilities
[Note: The text of the proposed amendments is identical to the text
of the Access Board's interim final rule (36 CFR part 1191, Appendix
A) published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register.]
[FR Doc. 94-14666 Filed 6-17-94; 8:45 am]
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