CALIFORNIA COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ACCESS
EDUCATION AND OUTREACH COMMITTEE
MAY 18, 2016, MEETING MINUTES
CALIFORNIA COMMISSION ON DISABILITY ACCESS
EDUCATION AND OUTREACH COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES
May 18, 2016
1. CALL TO ORDER
Chair Betty Wilson welcomed everyone and called the meeting of the Education and Outreach Committee (E&O) of the California Commission on Disability Access (CCDA or Commission) to order at 10:07 a.m. at the City of Los Angeles Department on Disability, 201 North Figueroa Street, Suite 100, Los Angeles, 90012.
The off-site meeting locations for teleconference were the Department of Rehabilitation, 721 Capitol Mall, Room 244, 2nd Floor, Sacramento, 95814; Communities Actively Living Independent and Free, 634 South Spring Street, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, 90014; and the San Francisco Independent Living Resource Center, 825 Howard Street, San Francisco, 94103.
Chair Wilson reviewed the meeting protocols.
ROLL CALL
Staff Member Jackson called the roll and announced a quorum was not yet present.
Committee Members Present: / Committee Members Absent:Arnie Lerner (Teleconference) / Richard Ray
Stephen Simon
Jimmie Soto
Commissioners Present: / Commissioners Absent:
Betty Wilson, Chair / Lillibeth Navarro
Chris Downey (Teleconference) / Michael Paravagna
Staff Present:
Angela Jemmott, Executive Director
Addison Embrey, Program Analyst
Brandon Estes, Program Analyst
Fajola Jackson, Office Administrator
Also Present:
Richard Halloran, Certified Access Specialist (CASp), Senior Building Inspector, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Coordinator, City and County of San Francisco
Carrie Stone
2. COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON ISSUES NOT ON THIS AGENDA
No members of the public addressed the Commission.
3. STATUS ON ACTION ITEMS FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS – UPDATE
Executive Director Jemmott stated the recommended action item has not yet been completed. Staff will provide an update at the next meeting.
4. COMBINING LEGISLATIVE AND E&O PROJECTS – DISCUSSION AND ACTION
A. Introduction of Central Valley Town Hall Concept Including:
1. Interested Assembly Member(s)
2. Preference for Central Valley
3. Target Audience
4. General Format
5. Preferred Outcomes
B. Initial Thoughts or Presentation from Legislative Committee
C. Initial E&O Concept
D. Resolution Between the Two Committees’ Concepts
E. Logistical Issues
1. Size and Type of Venue
2. Video Conference Capacity?
3. Non-local Sponsorship Ideas?
4. Target Date Range
F. Finalize Draft Presentation for Assemblyperson Kristen Olsen:
1. What Support do we Need from Her?
2. Venue Ideas?
3. Timing?
4. Miscellaneous Items to Present to Assemblyperson Olsen. Local Sponsors for Event and/or Refreshments/Lunch?
Executive Director Jemmott stated the Legislative and E&O Committees will collaborate on a number of projects for efficiency and cost-effectiveness, such as for the upcoming town hall meeting to be held in the Central Valley. Assemblyperson Kristen Olsen, who is from the Central Valley, and Commissioner Thurmond have expressed interest in participating in town hall meetings.
Chair Wilson stated she will contact Commissioner Yoo to discuss including the Research Committee in the collaboration. She asked for suggestions on how to make the town hall meeting more participatory and interactive and less lecture style because public input will be used to develop follow-up events.
Commissioner Downey stated part of the Commission’s charge is to build bridges between the disability and small business communities. He suggested highlighting success stories and positive programs that feature efforts that proactively encourage increased compliance through modifications to existing properties to:
· Spark participation from the Central Valley to share the programs and demonstrations that have been working towards increased compliance
· Foster a conversation and collaboration about the needs and challenges of the disability and business communities to find:
o Common issues that can be brought back as legislation at the state level
o Common issues that can be further championed to be done on the local level
Chair Wilson stated the concern about possible decreased attendance in the town hall meeting due to summer vacations. She stated the town hall meeting will be teleconferenced so individuals can participate statewide. She suggested staff ask Assemblyperson Olsen’s office to suggest a venue that can accommodate approximately fifty attendees. The town hall meeting will cost approximately $25,000 including small refreshments. She asked for ideas about sponsors for the event.
Executive Director Jemmott stated Assemblyperson Olsen has not committed to sponsor the event yet and has asked for the discussion topics so her office can confirm that it does not conflict with bills or the direction of her office.
Chair Wilson asked for discussion topic suggestions.
Commissioner Downey suggested case studies or demonstrations of programs enacted by various jurisdictions, such as the new legislation passed in San Francisco concerning the access of store fronts. He asked Committee Member Lerner to supply the details.
Committee Member Lerner stated the new legislation is the first of its kind that mandates all public accommodations to make their front entrances accessible depending on the tier they fall into in terms of difficulty. He stated his organization is developing guidelines and is working with the Department of Public Works, the planning department, and the building department on how to implement it, which is expected to take six to eight months. Making accessible entrances will discourage drive-by lawsuits and will encourage business owners to do more inside when they see customers now have access to their establishments.
Carrie Stone, a member of the public asked for the name of the bill.
Committee Member Lerner stated it is a city ordinance sponsored by Supervisor Katy Tang.
Rick Halloran, a CASp, Senior Building Inspector, and ADA Coordinator for the City and County of San Francisco, stated the name of ordinance number 051-16 is Building Code Mandatory Disability Access Improvements. Additional information is available on the City and County of San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ website.
Commissioner Downey suggested including a presentation of the collaborative process that went into the formation of the ordinance between the business and disability communities and finding a workable way to increase compliance.
Chair Wilson asked and Mr. Halloran agreed to be a speaker on this discussion topic at the town hall meeting.
Executive Director Jemmott suggested addressing two points at the town hall meeting: drive-by lawsuits and parking. She suggested the title “California Access for All: Local Government Leading the Way.”
Committee Member Lerner suggested that the ordinance not be characterized as a way to fend off drive-by lawsuits, but as a way to increase access to businesses.
Commissioner Downey stated the concern that the topic of local government leading the way, from the assemblyperson’s perspective, may be seen as the government taking a heavy hand and telling everyone what to do. It is important to highlight that solutions are found through collaboration - of which the city is part - in helping to build the bridge between the disability and business communities.
Commissioner Downey stated, although he is thrilled that Mr. Halloran has agreed to be a speaker on this discussion topic, it may be more powerful to include speakers from the business and disability communities who participated in crafting the ordinance language on the panel and can speak about the collaborative process that led to the resolution with the help of the city government.
Mr. Halloran agreed and suggested including Regina Dick Endrizzi, the Director of the Office of Small Business, on the panel. She instituted the request to Supervisor Tang’s office based on requests from small business.
Executive Director Jemmott stated the first discussion topic is “Success of Collaboration– Results in Access for All.”
Commissioner Downey agreed with the term “access” because of the double meaning: access to businesses for the disability community and access to more customers for the business community.
Ms. Stone stated the need to know more about the language of the ordinance in order to know how to bill it.
Chair Wilson suggested “Challenges to Access” as another topic that will include discussion about solutions.
Mr. Halloran stated the ADA does not require that all buildings make their front entrances accessible, but requires barrier removal where achievable. There are buildings that were built before 1993 that cannot be made accessible. The question is what to do about that. One of the unique features of the San Francisco ordinance is that business owners are not being sued because the buildings do not comply; rather, they are being sued because their buildings do not comply and they did not seek alternate methods of providing goods and services to people. The key is, even though a building may not have to comply, it still has to provide the goods and services.
Ms. Stone suggested “Providing Alternative Access When a Building Cannot Be Made Physically Accessible” and “Obstacles Business Owners Face in Complying with Disability Law” as possible discussion topics.
Chair Wilson asked Ms. Stone to be part of a panel. Ms. Stone agreed but stated business owners may be a better choice.
Mr. Halloran suggested a discussion topic on Senate Bill (SB) 269.
Executive Director Jemmott restated the discussion topics:
• The Success of Collaboration – Results in Access for All. This panel discussion will focus on the San Francisco Ordinance and will include how the ordinance was created.
• Challenges of Access. This panel discussion creates a problem statement and will discuss current techniques to address challenges.
• Providing Alternative Access When a Building Cannot Be Made Physically Accessible.
• Obstacles Business Owners Face in Complying with Disability Law.
• SB 269. This panel discussion will focus on the questions: “I did everything the law says I am supposed to do and I am still getting sued: what went wrong and what do I do now?”
Executive Director Jemmott suggested bringing local jurisdictions together for discussion on the building inspector checklist, feedback on how it is being used, suggestions for better tools to meet needs, and discussion of challenges of local building inspectors giving advice or judgments on accessibility.
Commissioner Downey stated this broad topic is different from the other suggestions and it may be difficult to blend interested audiences. Also, Assemblyperson Olsen may not feel it is as relevant to her constituency and her interest.
Mr. Halloran stated businesses do not know who to call other than the building department. There are a multitude of other resources. The checklist is one of them. He agreed it is a good topic but it is too broad for this event.
Chair Wilson stated the importance of including the Legislative Committee’s input for discussion topic and panel member suggestions. She stated the need for a special meeting to update the Legislative Committee on what was determined in today’s meeting.
Executive Director Jemmott stated there is no need for a special meeting since the May26th Legislative Committee will include a discussion on the outcome of today’s meeting.
Commissioner Downey suggested making a draft of potential discussion topics for Committee Members’ review and to share with the Legislative Committee. He suggested that a couple of E&O Committee Members be on call at the May 26th Legislative Committee to join in the conversation.
Chair Wilson asked staff to prepare the draft within the week.
Commissioner Downey stated this is building not only to the event, but to a presentation to Assemblyperson Olsen, which is the biggest time crunch. He stated the importance of providing the discussion topics to Assemblyperson Olsen so she can coordinate her calendar, and the need for her buy-in before the Commission can work on the logistics, scheduling, location, and sponsors of the event.
Executive Director Jemmott suggested making a template of what is determined so that the town hall event format can be duplicated in future town halls that will include Commission Thurmond and his office’s support.
Chair Wilson asked where the July full Commission meeting will be held.
Executive Director Jemmott stated it will be held on July 18th at the Division of the State Architect in Sacramento and will be video-linked between Sacramento and Los Angeles, but not in Oakland due to the low attendance at the last meeting.
Chair Wilson suggested holding the town hall meeting at the end of July or early August so it can be approved by the full Commission and the public will have notice.
Chair Wilson stated the next steps are to draft the letter of discussion topics, meet with Assemblyperson Olsen’s office, and ask them to suggest a possible location in the Central Valley to hold the town hall meeting. She stated she will contact Commissioner Paravagna to give him a summary of today’s discussion.
Action Items:
· Staff is to make a draft of potential discussion topics for Committee Members’ review and to share with the Legislative Committee.
· Staff is to ask Assemblyperson Olsen’s office to suggest a venue that can accommodate approximately fifty attendees.
· Chair Wilson is to contact Commissioner Paravagna to give him a summary of today’s discussion.
5. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
This agenda item was not addressed.
6. ADJOURN
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:30 a.m.
Page 6 of 6