DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE: DISABILITY RIGHTS
SECTION OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION

FINAL REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS OF THE FINAL
REVISED REGULATIONS IMPLEMENTING TITLES II AND
III OF THE ADA, INCLUDING REVISED ADA STANDARDS
FOR ACCESSIBLE DESIGN

FINAL REPORT

Prepared By:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures

List of Tables

Acronyms and Abbreviations

Overview

Executive Summary

1. Introduction

2. ADAAG Background

2.1 Access Board Regulatory Assessment

2.2 Requirements

2.3 Facilities

2.4 Structure of Analysis and Scenarios

2.4.1 Barrier Removal and Safe Harbor

2.4.2 Classification of Requirements

2.4.3 Alternative Baselines 

2.4.4 Summary of Scenarios 

3.   Benefit-Cost Analysis Approach

3.1 Cost Estimation

3.1.1 Capital Construction Costs

3.1.2 Operations and Maintenance Costs (O&M)

3.1.3 Loss of Productive Space 

3.1.4 Other Management Transition Costs 

3.2 Benefits Estimation

3.2.1 Overview of theory

3.2.2 Benefits from Changes in Access Time

3.2.3 Economic Models for a Change in Access Time

3.3 Risk Analysis

3.4 Lifecycle Analysis

3.5 Evaluation criteria

4.   Data and Assumptions 

4.1 Cost Estimation Data and Discussion

4.1.1 Number of Facilities

4.1.2 Number of Elements per facility

4.1.3 Construction Costs

4.1.4 Operations and Maintenance Costs

4.1.5 Loss of Productive Space 

4.1.6 Replacement Costs

4.1.7 Expert Cost Review

4.2 Benefits Data and Assumptions

4.2.1 Number of Facility Visits of U.S. Adults

4.2.2 Number of Facility Visits of Persons with Disabilities

4.2.3 Lifecycle Assumptions

4.2.4 Generalized Use and Access Cost

4.2.5 Value of Time

4.2.6 Access Time Change

4.2.7 Price Elasticity of Demand for a Facility Visit

4.2.8 Ease of Access Adjustment

4.3 Risk Analysis

4.4 Definition of Baselines

5. Updates to the Regulatory Impact Analysis

6. Results and Discussion

6.1 Results Under Primary Baseline Scenario.

6.1.1 Total Net Present Value

6.1.2 Distribution of Costs and Benefits

6.1.3 Net Present Values by Requirement

6.1.4 Net Present Values by Facility

6.1.5 Net Present Value for Public versus Private Facilities

6.2  Results Under Additional Scenarios

6.2.1 Readily Achievable Scenarios.

6.2.2 International Building Code (IBC) Scenarios.

6.2.3 Safe Harbor and No Safe Harbor Scenarios

6.3 Relative Impact of Selected Assumptions

6.4 Changes in Facility Visits

6.5   Impacts Not Estimated in the Primary Analysis

6.5.1 Use Benefits Not Estimated in Primary Analysis Accruing to Persons With Disabilities

6.5.2  Use Benefits Not Estimated in Primary Analysis Accruing to Persons Without Disabilities

6.5.3 Non-Use Benefits Not Estimated in Primary Analysis

6.5.4 Other Benefits

6.6  Threshold Analysis

6.6.1  Value of Stigmatic Harm.

7.  Small Business Impact Analysis

Appendices

Appendix 1: Proposed Framework for the Regulatory Analysis (Reproduced from ANPRM)

Appendix 2: Summary of Requirements

Appendix 3: Cost Estimation Data

A. Numbers of Facilities 

B. Annual Growth Rates and Alteration Rates of Facilities

C. Assumptions With Respect to Estimated Typical Facility Size

D. Description of Element

E. Number of Elements Per Typical Facility 

F. Likelihood of Element in a Typical Facility

G. Likelihood of Element in a Typical Facility (Varying by Facility)

H. Unit Costs

I. Operation and Maintenance Cost 

J. Facility Space Cost

K. Changes in Productive Space Per Requirement

L. Years Before Replacement

M. Transaction Costs

N. Example of Cost Estimation

 

Appendix 4: Benefits Estimation Data

A. Average Visits by Adults per Facility 

B. Total US Population

C. Total Sales per Facility 

D. Consumer Price Index 

E. Percentage of Disability, by Type 

F. Income Adjustment Factors by Facility

G. Time Use Survey

H. Total Access Time per Facility

I. Market Price by Facility

J. Value of Time

K. Description of Benefits by Requirement

L. Time Change / Expected Number of Uses Input

M. Likelihood of Realizing Benefits

N. Total Access Time Change per Facility

O. Elasticities 

P. Ease of Access (EOA) Adjustment by Facility

Q. Requirements with Use Time Estimates

R. Examples of Consumer Surplus Calculations

Appendix 5: Small Business Data

Appendix 6: RAP Primer

Appendix 7: RAP Panelists / Agenda

A. Benefits RAP Panel

B. Cost RAP Panel

Appendix 8: Matrix of Changes Represented by New and Revised Requirements

Appendix 9: Matrix of Applicable Baselines for IBC Scenarios

Appendix 10: Matrix Of Select Requirements And IBC/ANSI Model Codes – Adoption By Jurisdiction

List of Figures

Figure 1: Diagram of Conditions Corresponding to Compliance of Elements

Figure 2: Framework for Accounting for All Benefits Resulting from Accessibility Improvements

Figure 3: Economic Framework for Estimating Benefits from Changes in Generalized Access Cost  

Figure 4: Total Number of Elements: Top Five Most Frequently Occurring and All Others

Figure 5: Top 5 Average Barrier Removal Construction Costs Per Unit

Figure 6: Example of Cost RAP Question

Figure 7: Example of Benefits RAP Question

Figure 8: Total NPV – Primary Baseline Scenario: SH/RA50/B1991; 3% and 7% Discount Rates

Figure 9: Total NPV – Primary Baseline Scenario : SH/RA50/B1991; 3% and 7% Discount Rates for Private and Public Facilities Separately

Figure 10: Distribution of Benefits between Users and Facilities (Cost Savings)

Figure 11: Distribution of Costs between Type of Cost, Type of Construction, Users

Figure 12: NPV for Three Selected Requirements

Figure 13: NPV for Three Selected Facility Groups

Figure 14: NPV for Selected Public and Private Educational Facilities.

Figure 15: NPV Comparison – Alternate Readily Achievable Scenarios:  RA0, RA50, RA100

Figure 16: NPV Comparison – Alternate Baselines: B1991, B2000, B2003, and B2006

Figure 17: Safe Harbor vs. No Safe Harbor

Figure 18: Distribution of Sensitivities for Requirement 32: Water Closet Clearance in Single-User Toilet Rooms – In-Swinging Doors

Figure 19: Distribution of Sensitivities for Requirement 28: Water Closet Clearance in Single-User Toilet Rooms – Out-Swinging door

Figure 20: Distribution of Sensitivities for Requirement 10: Stairs (ALT/BR)

Figure 21: Distribution of Sensitivities for Requirement 45: Bathrooms In Accessible Guest Rooms (vanities and water closet clearances)

Figure 22: Distribution of Sensitivities for Requirement 71: Accessible Exercise Machines and Equipment

Figure 23: Distribution of Sensitivities for Requirement 23: Passenger Loading Zones

Figure 24: Framework for Accounting for All Benefits Resulting from Accessibility Improvements

Figure 25: Quantified and Non-quantified Benefits within the Accounting Framework

Figure 26: Combining Probability Distributions

Figure 27: Risk Analysis of Annual Capital Cost per Element, Illustration Only

List of Tables

Table 1: List of Requirements

Table 2: List of Facilities

Table 3: Number of Establishments in 2010 by Facility Group

Table 4: Requirements not included in Baseline Scenario

Table 5: Total Number of Annual Visits per Facility Group by Adults

Table 6: Total Net Present Value in Primary Baseline Scenario at Expected Value (billions $)

Table 7: Costs and Benefits per Requirement in Primary Baseline Scenario

Table 8: Total Costs and Benefits per Facility Group in Primary Baseline Scenario

Table 9: Net Present Values for Public and Private Facilities

Table 10:  NPV Comparison using Primary (1991 Standards) Baseline and State-by-State Requirement-Specific Alternate IBC/ANSI Baseline (Under Safe Harbor, 50% Readily Achievable Barrier Removal, 7% Discount Rate)

Table 11: Impact on Results of Reduced to Access Time Premium

Table 12: Impact on Results of Reduced to Use Time Premium

Table 13: Impact on Results of Reduced Demand Elasticity At All Facilities (millions)

Table 14: Impact on NPV of Increased Rate of Alterations

Table 15: Impact on NPV of Estimated Managerial Costs for Supplemental Requirements at All Facilities (Under Safe Harbor, 50% Readily Achievable Barrier Removal, 1991 Standards for Baseline, 7% Discount Rate)

Table 16: Impact on NPV of Increased Estimates of Persons with Disabilities

Table 17: Estimated Change in the Number of Facility Visits (Under Safe Harbor, 50% Readily Achievable Barrier Removal, 1991 Standards for Baseline, 7% Discount Rate)

Table 18: Impact of 0.25 Premiums on Value of Time for Avoiding Stigmatic Harm for Select Requirements (million $)

Table 19: Threshold Premium for Select Requirements

Table 20: Additional Threshold Analyses

Table 21: Number of Facilities and Total Sales for Small vs. Facilities of All Sizes, and Ratio of Average Sales per Facility, by Facility Group

Table 22: Net Cost Comparison: Small vs. Facilities of All Sizes, by Facility Group, (Under Safe Harbor, 50% Readily Achievable Barrier Removal, 1991 Standards for Baseline)

Table 23: Annual Cost Comparison: Small vs. Facilities of All Sizes, by Facility Group

Acronyms and Abbreviations

1991 ADAAG – ADA Accessibility Guidelines (published July 1991)

2004 ADAAG – ADA Accessibility Guidelines (published July 2004)

1991 Standards – Department of Justice regulations implementing the Americans With Disabilities Act (codified at 28 CFR pts. 35 & 36)

2010 Standards – Department of Justice regulations implementing the Americans With Disabilities Act (to be codified at 28 CFR pts. 35 & 36)

Access Board – Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board

ABRA – Access Board Regulatory Assessment

ADA – Americans with Disabilities Act

ADAAG – Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines

ALT - alterations

ANPRM – Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

ANSI – American National Standards Institute

BLS – Bureau of Labor Statistics

BR – barrier removal

CPI – Consumer Price Index

Department or DOJ – Department of Justice

EIA – Energy Information Administration

HUD – Department of Housing and Urban Development

IBC – International Building Code

NAICS – North American Industry Classification System

NC – new construction

NPRM – Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

NPV – Net Present Value

O&M – operation and maintenance

OMB – Office of Management and Budget

RA – readily achievable

RAP – Risk Analysis Process

SBA – Small Business Association

SH – safe harbor

UFAS - Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards