From the OMB Watcher Online, Vol. 2 No. 25, December 10, 2001

Congressional Compliance with Accessibility Statutes

The effort to bring Congress in line with federal agencies with respect to information access by persons with disabilities took a small step with the release on November 13 of an interim report on the applicability of Section 508 by the Office of Compliance. This is the entity established under the 1995 Congressional Accountability Act (CAA) to monitor federal law with respect to accessibility issues in employment, public services, and places of public accommodation. It reports to Congress twice a year on the applicability of accessibility provisions to legislative operations. It is also authorized to issue interim reports on the status or interpretation of accessibility-related matters.

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was the first major federal law to include explicit civil rights provisions for people with disabilities. When the Rehabilitation Act was re-authorized in 1986, Section 508 was added to ensure civil rights protections geared towards technology access for people with disabilities. While it made agency compliance with accessibility standards only voluntary, it initiated the process through which federal Executive Branch agencies would eventually be mandated to ensure employee and public access to their data and information systems. The 1990 Americans with Disability Act prohibits discrimination towards people with disabilities in the areas of employment, transportation, commercial facilities and public accommodations, state and local government services, and telecommunications. With respect to information and technology, it generally emphasizes a notion of not creating barriers through existing systems, and instead encourages reasonably equivalent access to available services and resources.

The Rehabilitation Act's 1998 reauthorization guaranteed additional protections under Section 508, which required federal Executive Branch agencies to make their electronic data and information systems and related acquisitions accessible to persons with disabilities, including employees and members of the general public, except when such compliance poses an undue burden upon agency and department operations. These standards went into effect on June 21, 2001, and require federal executive branch agencies' electronic information systems to meet specific technical specifications, such that information is made available to everyone through the same general means regardless of the physical limitations of individual users. If there are demonstrable instances where the standards pose an undue burden on agency operations, information may be presented in an alternate manner considered to be a reasonable accommodation for effective communication, including interpreters, transcripts, audio recordings, and screen readers, among other means. The General Services Administration (GSA) and the Access Board are directed to provide technical assistance to individuals and Federal agencies concerning the requirements of Section 508, while the Department of Justice is required to submit biennial reports to Congress and the President on Section 508 compliance within the Executive Branch.

The federal legislative branch, however, operates under a voluntary compliance and enforcement system, coordinated by the Office of Compliance. The CAA requires employing offices under the legislative branch -- including Congress, individual member offices, committees, and support offices, as well as the Government Printing Office (GPO), GAO, and Library of Congress (LOC) -- to follow the ADA in order to facilitate both public and employee access to legislative information. The federal legislative branch and its offices, however, are not required to follow Section 508 guidelines. Therefore, the more stringent accessibility standards and practices mandated by Congress for federal agencies are currently voluntary for Congress itself.

While the Office of Compliance has the authority to enforce and review ADA compliance on a case-by-case basis, and to educate Congress on Section 508 provisions, it cannot proactively make policy recommendations on ADA compliance with respect to electronic information systems, nor can it mandate that electronic legislative information meet accepted accessibility and design standards. The OOC report, however, comes out in favor of applying the stronger Section 508 requirements on employee and public access to information through CAA, such that the legislative branch and its extension offices (including GAO, GPO, LOC) can better strengthen and coordinate accessibility compliance and enforcement.

The November Office of Compliance report follows a 1998 report regarding ADA compliance, which gave particular emphasis to efforts made by Congress to utilize electronic information technology in order to meet ADA compliance, including the THOMAS legislative information system and websites of individual House and Senate members.