SB632

SECTION 1. In 1998, Congress amended the federal Rehabilitation Act to require federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to persons with disabilities. Commonly referred to as Section 508 (29 U.S.C. 794d), the law required federal agencies that develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology to provide disabled employees and members of the public access to information that is comparable to the access available to others.

The legislature finds that inaccessible technology interferes with an individual's ability to obtain and use information easily and quickly and that adoption of Section 508 standards and practices by state agencies will eliminate barriers in information technology, make new opportunities available for persons with disabilities to work for and interact with their government, and will encourage the development of technologies that will help to achieve these goals.

SECTION 2. The Hawaii Revised Statutes is amended by adding a new chapter to be appropriated inserted and to read as follows:

"CHAPTER

ELECTRONIC AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACCESSIBILITY

§ -1 Definitions. As used in this chapter, the following terms have the following meanings unless the context indicates otherwise:

"Agency" means any state department, agency, or instrumentality.

"Alternative means of access" means alternative formats or methods of providing information and may include but are not limited to voice, fax, relay service, teletype or other text-based communications through the transmission of coded signals, captioning, text-to-speech synthesis, and audio description.

"Disability and communication access board" means the disability and communication access board established in chapter 348F.

"Undue burden" means significant difficulty or expense as determined pursuant to section -5.

§ -2 Development, procurement, maintenance, or use of electronic and information technology. (a) When developing, procuring, maintaining, or using electronic and information technology, each state agency shall ensure, unless an undue burden would be imposed on the agency, that:

(1) The electronic and information technology allows individuals with disabilities who are state employees to have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access to and use of the information and data by employees who are not individuals with disabilities; and

(2) Individuals with disabilities who are members of the public seeking information or services from the state agency have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access to and use of the information and data by members of the public who are not individuals with disabilities.

(b) When development, procurement, maintenance, or use of electronic and information technology that meets the requirements of subsection (a) and the standards established by the disability and communication access board pursuant to section -3, would impose an undue burden, the agency, with the approval of the disability and communication access board, may provide individuals with disabilities with the information and data involved by an alternative means of access that allows the individual to use the information and data.

§ -3 Electronic and information technology standards. (a) Within six months of the effective date of this Act, but no later than December 31, 2007, the disability and communication access board shall establish and adopt, pursuant to chapter 91, standards and requirements for equipment, software, technical support services, and any other matter the access board shall deem necessary to effectuate the purposes of this chapter.

(b) The standards required and adopted by this section shall conform, as near as may be possible, to standards set for federal agencies under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. 794d).

(c) In developing the standards required by this section, the access board shall consult with state departments and agencies as may be deemed appropriate, including the department of accounting and general services and the procurement institute of the University of Hawaii. The access board shall also consult with representatives of the electronic and information technology industry and appropriate public or nonprofit agencies or organizations, including organizations representing individuals with disabilities.

(d) Rules and standards adopted pursuant to this section shall include but not be limited to:

(1) A definition of electronic and information technology that is consistent with the definition of information technology specified in federal law; and

(2) The technical and functional performance criteria necessary to implement the requirements of this chapter.

(e) The access board shall periodically review and, as appropriate, amend the standards required under this section to reflect technological advances or changes in electronic and information technology.

§ -4 Agency implementation. (a) By July 1, 2008, the state procurement office and each procurement officer for a state agency, as specified in sections 103D-203 and 103D-204, shall revise its procurement policies, directives, forms, and contracts to incorporate the standards established under section

-3.

(b) No later than six months after the access board revises or amends its standards, pursuant to section -3(e), the state procurement office and each chief procurement officer shall revise its policies and directives, as necessary, to incorporate the revisions.

(c) When procuring a product, each agency shall procure products that comply with the requirements of this chapter when the products are available in the commercial marketplace or when the products are developed in response to a government solicitation. Agencies may not claim a product as a whole is not commercially available because no product in the marketplace meets all the standards. If products are commercially available that meet some but not all of the standards, the agency shall procure the product that best meets the standards.

§ -5 Undue burden. (a) In the event that a state agency determines that compliance with the standards established by the access board under section -3 relating to procurement would impose an undue burden on the agency's policies and procedures, the agency shall request a waiver of those standards from the access board and shall provide the access board with documentation explaining why compliance with the standards would create an undue burden.

(b) In determining whether an action would result in an undue burden, an agency shall consider all resources available to the agency, program, or component, for which the product is being developed, procured, maintained, or used.

§ -6 Equipment. In a case where the state agency provides access to the public to information or data through electronic and information technology, nothing in this chapter shall be construed to require the agency to:

(1) Make equipment owned by the agency available for access and use by individuals with disabilities at a location other than that where the electronic and information technology is generally provided to the public; or

(2) Purchase equipment for access and use by individuals with disabilities at a location other than that where the electronic and information technology is generally provided to the public.

§ -7 Software and peripheral devices. This chapter shall not be construed to require the installation of specific accessibility-related software or the attachment of a specific accessibility-related peripheral device at a workstation of a state employee who is not an individual with a disability.

§ -8 Public contracts. (a) This chapter shall apply to electronic and information technology developed, procured, maintained, or used by a contractor under a contract with an agency that requires use of the product, to a significant extent, in the performance of the public contract or the furnishing or the contracted service or product. This chapter shall not apply to electronic and information technology that is acquired by a contractor incidental to a contract or products located in spaces frequented only by service personnel under a service contract for maintenance, repair, or occasional monitoring of equipment.

(b) The disability and communication access board shall develop, pursuant to rule adopted under chapter 91, guidelines and specifications to implement this section. Any agency may request, and the access board shall provide, a ruling on the applicability of this section to a particular contract, contractor, or maintenance and repair service.

§ -9 Enforcement. The disability and communication access board shall administer and enforce this chapter.

§ -10 Reports. (a) Each agency shall provide an annual report to the governor and the legislature on the agency's implementation of this chapter.

(b) The disability and communication access board shall report annually to the governor and the legislature on the compliance by state agencies with the requirements of this chapter, complaints received from state employees and the general public alleging noncompliance with the requirements of this chapter, remedies mandated, and any other provisions the access board deems necessary and desirable in furthering the purposes of this chapter."

SECTION 3. If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of the Act, which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this Act are severable.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect July 1, 2007.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	632
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII