Mountain Views News          Saturday, September 22, 2012

15

BUSINESS NEWS & MORE

 Mountain Views News Saturday, September 22, 2012 

From The Arcadia Chamber of Commerce

NEW ADA LAW EASES LEGAL 
THREATS

Legislation supported by your Arcadia Chamber of Commerce to 
limit frivolous litigation connected with the Americans with Disabilities 
Act (ADA) was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown 
Wednesday, Sept. 19. (Additional coverage of this story with references 
to Arcadia Chamber here in today’s Pasadena Star-News.)

 

SB 1186 (Senator Bob Dutton; R-Rancho Cucamonga/Senator Darrell 
Steinberg; D-Sacramento), which goes into effect immediately, 
includes the following components:

 ¦A businesses in a location that was completed after Jan. 1, 2008, 
or any business in California that has received a Certified Access 
Specialist (CASp) inspection, will have 60 days to fix a noted violation 
and their statutory damages may be reduced from $4,000 to 
$1,000 – a 75 percent reduction.

 ¦Small businesses with 25 or fewer employees that have not had 
a CASp inspection will have 30 days to fix a violation and can see 
their statutory damages reduced from $4,000 to $2,000 – a 50 percent 
reduction

 ¦Prohibits attorneys from including a demand for money in letters 
accompanying notice of their lawsuit and requires attorneys to 
send a copy of their letter to the California State Bar to be examined 
for meeting the requirements of the law and not merely a ransom 
demand.

 ¦Requires attorneys to send a copy of letters sent to businesses to 
the California Commission on Disabilities (CCDA). They will be 
required to compile a “Top 10” list of violations to be posted on 
their website by July 1, 2013 and also a list of those attorneys and 
law firms who are filing the bulk of the lawsuits.

 ¦Provides an avenue for local cities and counties to expand the 
CASp program in their communities, to help bring local businesses 
into ADA compliance and develop tools to help educate the business 
community in expanding ADA access.

 ¦Puts into place new provisions to prevent “stacking” of multiple 
claims to increase statutory damages.

 

California has 40% of the nation’s ADA lawsuits but only 12% of the 
country’s disabled population, according to the California Chamber 
of Commerce, one of many Chambers supporting the legislation 
that brings relief not only to businesses but the owner of any 
structure. This year the Arcadia School District, local churches, and 
community organizations, including the Arcadia Chamber, were 
tagged with notices about potential ADA violations of everything 
from parking lot striping paint not being bright and new enough to 
parking lot signs being a few inches too high or low.

 

Local businesses such as The Bit, Taco Treat, and Salon de Jeuneusse 
were served with lawsuits citing dozens of infractions each, 
such as the shelf at the take out window being too high, with attorneys 
in each case telling the owner that they would drop the lawsuit 
if the owner paid them anywhere from $5,000 – $10,000 or more.

 

Your Chamber and the City of Arcadia partnered to hold a special 
informational seminar on the issue in late May and presented 
a CASp specialist speaker who provided helpful tips about dealing 
with these unscrupulous “drive-by” lawyers and and ways to come 
into better compliance with ADA regulations to minimize liability.

ONLINE VOTER REGISTRATION 
LAUNCHES IN CALIFORNIA

The Office of the Secretary of the State of California announced 
it will launch the much anticipated California Online Voter Registration 
by noon (PST) Friday. Online Voter Registration will 
offer increased accessibility for the 6.4 million unregistered eligible 
voters in California; 3 million of which reside in Los Angeles 
County.

Dean Logan, Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters, will be 
available to provide comment and expert insight into the impacts 
of California Online Voter Registration for Los Angeles County 
and California voters and elections.

Benefits of Online Voter Registration:

• Paperless online voter registration will save tax payers money by 
reducing the need to process paper forms.

• Approximately 80 percent of Californians already use the internet, 
making Online Voter Registration a fit for the Golden State.

• Online Voter Registration will improve the quality and accuracy 
of County Voter Files. Less manual data entry means more quality 
assurance and time to confirm and process paper forms.

• The convenience of online voter registration would provide for 
more up to date records, which might also reduce the number of 
provisional ballots cast.

• Online Voter Registration benefits the environment by reducing 
waste.

• Online Voter registration will provide increased registration security 
by ensuring instant delivery.

How does Online Voter Registration work?

• The online registration portal can be accessed at www.lavote.net 
or at www.sos.ca.gov

• The process uses your California Driver’s License or Identification 
number to match your voter registration information to 
Department of Motor Vehicles records.

• The Secretary of State obtains the registrants’ signature image on 
file from the DMV. This information will then be provided to the 
counties and added as the official signature of record on the voter 
file. The applicants’ information must match in order to complete 
the registration process providing increased registration security.

• Individuals who do not have a California Driver’s License or an 
Identification number can still use the online portal but will be 
required to print the form, sign it and mail it back.

Successes with Online Voter Registration:

• Eleven states currently or soon will offer online voter registration, 
including Arizona, North Carolina, Washington, Oregon 
and Colorado. This change helped alleviate the expenses of

election cycles in many states.

• Washington State saved $176,000 in the first year of implementing 
online voter registration.

GOVERNOR BROWN 
SIGNS BILL TO HELP 
VETS GET BACK 
TO WORK ON THE 
ROAD

SACRAMENTO, CA 

Friday, Governor Jerry Brown signed 
Assembly Bill 2659 by Assembly 
Member Bob Blumenfield with the 
support of the California Trucking 
Association, other business groups, and 
several veterans groups. The passage of 
AB 2659 will make it easier for highly 
qualified veterans with commercial 
driving experience to get back to work 
as professional truck drivers.

“Veterans of the most recent wars too 
often return home to face the challenge 
of prolonged unemployment that in 
some cases remains double the State 
overall unemployment rate,” stated 2012 
CTA President Scott Blevins, President 
of Manteca-based Mountain Valley 
Express. “They bring valuable skills 
earned over years of honorable service 
and it makes sense economically for a 
trucking industry that struggles with 
a looming driver shortage to help get 
veterans back to work.”

“It is time for California to take this 
step to help our veterans move forward 
as commercial drivers in a way that 
utilizes the skills acquired during their 
years in service and provide a greater 
pool of highly qualified commercial 
drivers for California’s trucking 
industry,” said Blevins. “Assembly 
Member Blumenfield’s leadership will 
help veterans get to work and trucking 
companies find great drivers.”

“We must help veterans build a 
prosperous future here at home,” said 
Assemblymember Bob Blumenfield 
(D-San Fernando Valley). “A lack of 
jobs and difficulty transferring military 
training into marketable skills are some 
of the biggest challenges veterans must 
overcome. We have a commercial truck 
driver shortage. Since many veterans 
learn this skill in the military, we need 
to link them with employers ready to 
hire right now.”

Recent regulatory changes by 
the Federal Motor Carrier Safety 
Administration authorizes states to 
waive the skills test if the CDL applicant 
has at least two years of military 
commercial driving experience in the 
period immediately leading up to their 
discharge from service, is applying for 
the waiver within 90 days of discharge, 
and is seeking a license commensurate 
with their prior experience. To date 
15 states have waived the skills test for 
qualified veteran commercial drivers. 

Military standards for authorizing an 
individual to operate a commercial 
motor vehicle requires more than 
200 hours of classroom and vehicle 
training. Military commercial drivers 
already operate vehicles on California 
roads and highways every day as they 
move cargo in support of mission.

The California trucking industry 
employs one out of every eight 
California workers and moves more 
than 80 percent of commerce in the 
state. If you bought it, a truck brought 
it.

The California Trucking Association 
promotes leadership in the California 
motor carrier industry, advocates sound 
transportation policies to all levels of 
government, and works to maintain a 
safe, environmentally responsible and 
efficient California transportation goods 
movement system.