Civil rights: disability access.

Existing law provides that individuals with disabilities or medical conditions have the same right as the general public to the full and free use of the streets, highways, sidewalks, walkways, public buildings, medical facilities, including hospitals, clinics, and physicians' offices, public facilities, and other public places. Existing law prescribes a process for prosecuting an action in this regard and provides that a person aggrieved or potentially aggrieved by a violation of these rights may bring an action for damages and that a prevailing party is entitled to recover reasonable attorney's fees. This bill would except from the application of these provisions public buildings, public facilities, and other public places of a public entity that, on specified dates, met specified disability access design standards. The bill would provide that a public entity's possession of a close out letter from the State Architect certifying that the buildings, facilities, and other places to which the letter applies meet the applicable building and construction-related accessibility standards of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act serves as presumptive evidence that the public buildings, facilities, and places are in compliance with this part and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. Existing law prescribes a process in certain construction-related accessibility claims against a place of public accommodation. This process permits statutory damages to be awarded against a place of public accommodation only if the violation denied the plaintiff full and equal access to the place of public accommodation on a particular occasion. This process also reduces a defendant's minimum statutory damage liability to $1,000 if the defendant demonstrates that it has corrected all construction-related violations that are the basis of a claim within 60 days of being served with the complaint, and other select conditions are met. This bill would apply the process described above to an action commenced on or after that January 1, 2016, or an action commenced prior to that date for which a final judgment has not been entered, to public buildings, public facilities, and other public places of an educational institution of a public entity by revising the definition of a place of public accommodation.