BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
Martha M. Escutia, Chair
2001-2002 Regular Session
AB 3035 A
Assembly Committee on Judiciary B
As Amended April 15, 2002
Hearing Date: June 11, 2002 3
Government Code 0
GMO:cjt 3
5
SUBJECT
Access to Government Programs and Activities
DESCRIPTION
This bill would amend the Ralph M. Brown Act (requiring
open meetings of legislative bodies of public agencies) and
the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act (requiring open meetings
of state bodies) to cross-reference a requirement under the
federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that notices
of agendas and public records distributed at these open
meetings be available to persons with a disability and that
published agendas include information on the availability
of disability-related aids or services.
The bill also would add "race" and "national origin" to the
list of factors, such as religion, age, sex, color, ethnic
group identification or disability, on which basis a person
may not be unlawfully denied full and equal access to a
program or activity by the state, a state agency, or to a
program or activity that is funded directly by the state or
receives any financial assistance from the state.
BACKGROUND
This bill is sponsored by the Department of Rehabilitation.
According to the department, the Governor's ADA
Interagency Task Force has determined that, despite
existing state and federal obligations under the
anti-discrimination statutes, many public meetings are
(more)
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inaccessible to persons with disabilities, either because
of the physical settings in which meetings are held, or
because proceedings and supporting documents are not
available in appropriate alternative formats or modes of
delivery.
This bill is intended to completely integrate the open
meeting laws with the federal ADA requirements by
cross-referencing the ADA in the Brown Act and the
Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act. The bill also would make a
change to the anti-discrimination law already in place, but
which omits "race" and "national origin" as factors on
which basis a person may not be discriminated against by a
state or state-funded agency. These two factors are used
in almost every other state and federal statute prohibiting
discrimination.
AB 3035 would implement the recommendations of the
Governor's ADA Interagency Task Force.
CHANGES TO EXISTING LAW
Existing law , the Ralph M. Brown Act, requires all meetings
of a legislative body of a local agency be open and public,
that the agenda be posted, and that all documents
constituting the agenda packet of a public meeting and
other writings distributed to the members of a legislative
body of a local agency by any person in connection with a
matter to be discussed at the public meeting, are required
to be made available to any person upon request.
[Government Code Section 54950 et seq. Further references
to code sections are to the Government Code unless
otherwise indicated.]
Existing law , the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Law, requires
that all meetings of a state body be open and public, and
that notice of public meetings as well as those held in
closed session be given to any person who requests that
notice in writing. The Act also specifies that the agenda
and other public records related to those meetings be made
available upon request and be available for public
inspection. [Section 11120 et seq.]
Existing federal law , the Americans with Disabilities Act
of 1990 (ADA), provides that state and local government
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agencies shall not exclude persons with disabilities from
public meetings and programs and shall make modifications
and accommodations to persons with disabilities, including
appropriate auxiliary aids and services for communication,
where necessary to afford an individual with a disability
an equal opportunity to participate in and enjoy the
benefits of a service, program or activity conducted by a
public entity. The ADA prohibits the imposition of
surcharges on persons with disabilities. [42 U.S.C. Section
12101 et seq.]
This bill would cross-reference in the Brown Act and
Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act the ADA requirements
regarding the state and local agencies' obligations
regarding persons with disabilities and the accommodations
that must be made to avoid discrimination.
Existing law provides that state programs and activities
and those funded by the state shall not discriminate
against persons with disabilities or on the basis of ethnic
group identification, age, religion, sex, or color.
[Section 11135.]
This bill would add 'race" and "national origin" the list
of protected characteristics on which a state agency may
not base any discriminatory action.
COMMENT
1. Stated need for the bill
According to the sponsor of AB 3035, the bill implements
the recommendations of the Governor's ADA Interagency
Task Force to enhance voluntary compliance with existing
laws regarding disability discrimination. By cross
referencing these existing federal obligations in the
open meetings laws, they state, the officials arranging
and conducting covered governmental meetings would be
better informed, pay better attention to their
obligations and thereby comply more readily.
2. Voluntary compliance is more efficient and costs less
Rather than force compliance by state bodies, local
agencies and legislative bodies created by local agencies
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through litigation and other adversarial proceedings,
this bill hopes to instill in those agencies a "second
nature" mode of compliance by cross referencing the ADA
into the open meetings laws. Public agencies and the
officials that conduct meetings are by now very familiar
with the workings of both the Brown Act and the
Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act, which have been in place
for some time. Thus, integrating the ADA requirements to
serve disabled persons in the context of open meetings
is, in the view of the sponsor and the author, the most
efficient way to exact voluntary and least costly
compliance with the ADA.
It should be noted that AB 677 (Steinberg, Chapter 708,
Statutes of 2001) extended to the state itself the
existing state laws that prohibit discrimination on the
basis of disability, among others. Government Code
Section 11135 draws upon the federal ADA for content and
standards, but does not rely on federal authority for
enforcement. AB 677 was enacted to ensure that the state
would comply with ADA-parallel requirements, in spite of
recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that have called into
question the constitutionality of the federal ADA's
applicability to the states.
By cross-referencing the ADA in the state's open meetings
laws, the initial step is taken to bring the ADA
requirements to the attention of public officials, who
would otherwise be required to comply with similar
requirements under the new state law.
3. Technical amendment to state anti-discrimination law
Government Code Section 11135, the state law that
prohibits discrimination by a state agency or any
state-funded agency or that denies access to state
programs or state-funded programs to persons on the basis
of ethnic group identification, color, religion, sex or
disability was enacted in 1977, and was amended in 1992,
19964 and 2001, to refine the language of the statute and
to define "disability" to include mental or physical
disability. Yet, the statute still contains language
that is obsolete and is no longer used (ethnic group
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identification, for example, does not appear in any other
statute dealing with discrimination, and has no
definition in statute or case law). The statute also
does not include other characteristics, such as "race"
and "national origin," that are found in other
discrimination-related statutes [ cf. California
Constitution, Article I, Sections 8, 31; 42 U.S.C. Sec.
1981; 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e; 29 C.F.R. Part 1606;
Government Code Sec. 12920 et seq.; 2 C.C.R. Secs. 7289.4
- 7289.5.] Thus the addition of these two characteristics
to Section 11135 would be technical in nature.
Support: ACLU; Advisory Commission on Special Education;
Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern
California; California Council for the Blind;
California Foundation for Independent Living
Centers; California Immigrant Welfare Collaborative;
Californians for Disability Rights, Inc.; Chinese
for Affirmative Action (CAA); Mexican Americaqn
Legal Defense and Educational Fund; National
Council of LaRaza; Protection and Advocacy., Inc.
(PAI)
Opposition: None Known
HISTORY
Source: Department of Rehabilitation
Related Pending Legislation: None Known
Prior Legislation: AB 677 (Steinberg, Ch. 708, Stats.
2001) amended Government
Code Sec. 11135 to apply disability
discrimination obligations
to the state.
Prior Vote: Asm. Jud. (Ayes 8, Noes 0); Asm. L. Gov. (Ayes
7, Noes 2);
Asm. Flr. (Ayes 57, Noes 8)
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