2013 California Standards for Accessible Design Pocket Guide

Background

A new edition of the California Building Code is issued every three years, based on the International Building Code (IBC) dated the previous year, liberally modified.  When the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design (2010 ADAS) were adopted by DOJ on September 15, 2010, these became the initial basis for the accessibility requirements of 2013 CBC Chapter 11B, including the organization and numbering of the requirements.  Generally speaking, the 2010 ADAS counterpart to a 2013 CBC requirement for public accommodations and commercial facilities can be found by deleting the "11B-" prefix to obtain the ADAS reference number, although there are numerous exceptions.

In converting the Federal Standards for application in California, DSA-AC was operating under a legislative mandate not to sacrifice any of the provisions of earlier editions of CBC that afford a higher level of accessibility for individuals with disabilities than those of the ADAS.  Therefore, with very few exceptions, where the 2013 CBC accessibility requirements differ from 2010 ADAS, they are either more inclusive (i.e., scoping that applies more broadly), or more stringent.

While the accessibility scoping and technical requirements of 2013 CBC and 2010 ADAS appear very similar, the former is a Building Code, and the latter is a Civil Rights Law.  Significant implications of this fundamental difference include:

a)         Enforcement.  A Building Code is enforced by governmental authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs), who are empowered to interpret and/or modify its requirements.  Their enforcement is exercised through a permitting and certification process that usually includes reviews of the documents needed for construction, and inspections of the work performed during construction and at completion.  This process is imperfect.  Building Officials, regardless of how conscientious, knowledgeable and hard-working, cannot be expected to find and correct every Building Code shortcoming any more than traffic enforcement can be expected to issue a citation to every driver who exceeds the speed limit.  Making the job more difficult, Building Code requirements must be written to cover every conceivable situation, and often are not as definitive as a speed limit.  Interpretation and judgment are inescapable, and these may differ from one AHJ to another.

There is no comparable mechanism for enforcing ADA requirements.  They are enforced solely through the legal system.  Risk management is the responsibility of the architects, engineers, interior designers, landscape architects, contractors, subcontractors, vendors, product manufacturers, building owners and managers, service personnel, and others who are involved in the creation and maintenance of the built environment.  There is no governmental review or enforcement unless and until a lawsuit is filed.

b)         Applicability.  In theory, a Building Code remains applicable throughout the life and operation of a building or other element of the built environment -- see also subsequent discussions about changes and Safe Harbors.  In practice, the Building Code requirements become applicable only when an addition or alteration is executed that requires a permit, because that is when the enforcement mechanisms described above are activated.  There are exceptions, mostly health- and safety-related, such as Fire Marshal inspections, OSHA inspections for workplace safety, Department of Public Health inspections of food service operations, and JCAHO inspections of healthcare facilities.  As a rule, the Building Code requirements that are applicable are the ones that were in effect when the project was permitted.  A building owner is expected to maintain compliance with that edition, but is not expected to perform alterations to become compliant with later editions when issued.  S/he is also not compelled to discover and correct conditions that were noncompliant at the time of construction, but were undetected.  These existing nonconforming conditions are entitled to remain until a permitted alteration or addition, or an occupancy change, causes the current Building Code to take effect.

As a Civil Rights Law, the ADA is applicable perpetually.  It imposes the ongoing responsibility for owners of public accommodations to remove existing barriers for individuals with disabilities to the extent that it is readily achievable to do so, and it imposes the constant responsibility for governmental entities to make their programs and services available to, and usable by, individuals with disabilities.  The implied responsibility to discover and correct noncompliant conditions, whether or not an alteration, addition, or change of occupancy is planned, exceeds the responsibility imposed by the Building Code.  See also discussion of Safe Harbors.

c)         Changes.  As stated above, the Building Code is republished every three years.  In the interim, errata and/or supplements are issued at least once per year.  In other words, change is constant.  Since many building projects require more than one year to complete, it is not unusual for the pertinent Building Code requirements to change during construction.  In some cases, the permitting process can also require multiple years.  The requirements applicable to a specific project are those that were in effect when the permit application was made (except for errata, which can be applicable retroactively), but it can be extremely difficult to identify those after completion.  If a Drawing Cover Sheet lists 2013 California Building Code as one of the Applicable Codes, one still must ask, "Which version?".  This Pocket Guide is based on the initial publication of 2013 CBC, with Errata issued retroactive to January 1, 2014, and the Supplement dated July 1, 2015.

The ADA undergoes significant formal changes infrequently.  The Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) issued in 1991 were supplemented in 1994, but were not rewritten by the U.S. Access Board until 2004.  The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) adopted by reference the revised ADAAG as regulatory standards effective November 29, 2006, and added or modified four sections. These sections are included in this Pocket Guide within ETA Editor’s Notes.  DOJ adopted the revised ADAAG on September 15, 2010 -- see also the discussion of Safe Harbors.  Evan Terry Associates has developed a detailed (line-by-line) reverse sortable analysis to show how the 2010 ADA Standards compare to the 1991 ADA Standards. It is available at http://www.adastandardscomparison.com/ as a free download for all interested parties, in MS Excel spreadsheet format. The Access Board has less detailed comparisons of its 2004 Guidelines with the 2010 ADA Standards and with the IBC 2003 and 2006 Standards and the NFPA 5000 Standard at http://www.Access-Board.gov/Guidelines-and-Standards/Buildings-and-Sites/About-the-ADA-Standards/Background/IBC-Comparison.  It bears mentioning that the application and interpretations of the ADA are also affected by technical assistance, advisories and opinions issued by DOJ, DOT, and the Access Board, as well as precedent-setting legal cases.  See also the list of upcoming revisions to the ADA Standards at the end of this Introduction.

These implications of the fundamental difference between a Building Code and a Civil Rights Law are enumerated to emphasize that an element of the built environment that is subject to accessibility requirements must comply with both.  If a Building Official or other AHJ does not enforce a particular accessibility requirement of the Building Code, or enforces it to a lesser degree than required by the ADA, the ADA requirement remains in effect, and must be met, despite the fact that no one is reviewing or approving the condition for ADA compliance.  ETA has incorporated Editor's Notes at certain locations in this Pocket Guide to reemphasize this point, including the Special Conditions Appeals, Equivalent Facilitation and Path of Travel Requirements.