THE SENATE                           S.C.R. NO.            29
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                    SENATE  CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION

  URGING THE COUNTIES TO INCORPORATE INTO THE COUNTY BUILDING
    CODES PROVISIONS FOR DISABILITY ACCESSIBILITY.


 1        WHEREAS, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
 2   requires that the design and construction of certain specific
 3   buildings and facilities be accessible and usable by people
 4   with disabilities; and
 5   
 6        WHEREAS, the ADA requirements for new construction and
 7   alteration apply under Title II of the ADA to state and local
 8   government projects and to private projects involving public
 9   accommodations and commercial facilities under Title III; and
10   
11        WHEREAS, the design requirements of the ADA are
12   supplemented by the ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG),
13   36 C.F.R. Pt. 1191, to ensure compliance with the ADA as to
14   "accessibility and usability"; and
15   
16        WHEREAS, the federal Fair Housing Administration Act of
17   1988 (Public Law 100-430) requires certain multi-family
18   dwelling units to be accessible and usable by people with
19   disabilities; and
20   
21        WHEREAS, the design requirements of the Fair Housing
22   Amendments Act of 1988 were enacted to ensure compliance with
23   the federal Fair Housing Act (Public Law 90-284); and
24   
25        WHEREAS, model building code organization members,
26   including the Building Code Officials and Code Administrators
27   (National Building Code), International Conference of Building
28   Officials (Uniform Building Code), Southern Code Congress
29   International (Standard Building Code), and International Code
30   Council (International Building Code), are working to include
31   the ADAAG and the Fair Housing Amendments Act Guidelines into
32   recommended county building codes; and
33   
34        WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Justice has encouraged
35   state and local governments to incorporate the ADAAG into their
36   respective building codes, and has developed a process to

 
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                                  S.C.R. NO.            29
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1   certify local codes that provide equivalent or greater
 2   requirements than the ADA for design and construction; and
 3   
 4        WHEREAS, section 103-50, Hawaii Revised Statutes, requires
 5   that public buildings and facilities conform to the ADAAG,
 6   however there is no similar requirement for private buildings
 7   and facilities; and 
 8   
 9        WHEREAS, chapter 348F, Hawaii Revised Statutes, relating
10   to the Disability and Communication Access Board, establishes
11   guidelines and reviews plans and designs for public buildings
12   and facilities for conformance to design guidelines which are
13   equal to or greater than the ADAAG; and
14   
15        WHEREAS, the City and County of Honolulu and the counties
16   of Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui have adopted the Uniform Building
17   Code of the International Conference of Building Officials,
18   however, none of the amended codes include the ADAAG entirely;
19   and
20   
21        WHEREAS, the long-term goal of the State should be to have
22   a uniform state building code incorporating all of the ADAAG
23   and Fair Housing Amendments Act Guidelines in order to benefit
24   the design and construction community so that it knows what is
25   required and can conform to the ADA and Fair Housing Act,
26   thereby avoiding access problems for persons with disabilities
27   and costly litigation for building owners and operators; now,
28   therefore,
29   
30        BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twentieth Legislature
31   of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2000, the House of
32   Representatives concurring, that the counties are urged to
33   revise their respective building code provisions for
34   accessibility for persons with disabilities; and
35   
36        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that to assist the counties in
37   incorporating provisions of disability accessibility, the
38   American Institute of Architects Hawaii State Council and the
39   Disability and Communication Access Board are urged to convene
40   a meeting within sixty days of the closing of the 2000 Session
41   to facilitate the dissemination and exchange of information;
42   and
43   

 
 
 
 
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                                  S.C.R. NO.            29
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that each county is requested to
 2   report to the Legislature before the 2001 Regular Session on
 3   its status of incorporating provisions of disability
 4   accessibility in their county building codes; and
 5   
 6        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
 7   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Mayor of each
 8   county, Disability and Communication Access Board, State
 9   Comptroller, American Institute of Architects Hawaii State
10   Council, Consulting Engineers of Hawaii; Building Industry
11   Association; and General Contractors Association.
12 
13 
14                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________