Stop California AB 950 Now!
- Contact friends and associates in San Diego and ask them to contact San Diego Assemblyman Brian Maienschein’s office: a76 official website Phone: (858) 675-0760
- Contact political contributors of Brian Maienschien. They are here on FollowTheMoney.com
- Email members of the Appropriations Committee of the Assembly where this bill is headed next to stop it assemblymember.holden@assembly.ca.gov, assemblymember.dahle@assembly.ca.gov, assemblymember.bryan@assembly.ca.gov, assemblymember.carrillo@assembly.ca.gov, assemblymember.dixon@assembly.ca.gov, assemblymember.fong@assembly.ca.gov, assemblymember.calderon@assembly.ca.gov, assemblymember.hart@assembly.ca.gov, assemblymember.lowenthal@assembly.ca.gov, assemblymember.mathis@assembly.ca.gov, assemblymember.papan@assembly.ca.gov, assemblymember.pellerin@assembly.ca.gov, assemblymember.rivas@assembly.ca.gov, assemblymember.sanchez@assembly.ca.gov, assemblymember.weber@assembly.ca.gov, assemblymember.wilson@assembly.ca.gov
- Contact your CA Assembly member and CA State Senator: Find them here: Find your Rep Here
- Contact CA Governor Gavin Newsom – Official website
- It wrongly assumes that websites are a static thing and puts the entire burden and responsibility on millions of small businesses, rather than ensuring that the framework and eco-system of the internet that they use to create websites is accessible.
- It does not provide any safe harbor or notice to cure technical bugs or errors that are not intentional.
- It solely relies on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.2 AA) as a legal standard for website accessibility, which was never created to be a legal standard.
- For example, one of the criteria to pass WCAG 2.2 AA is the requirement of Audio Descriptions on all videos. The vast majority of video content does not contain a separate track for audio descriptions, which can be costly to create. This would result in websites having to remove all video content for fear of a lawsuit.
- There are no consistent testing standards to determine whether a website is fully, substantially, partially, or completely inaccessible, and using the most stringent requirements of the WCAG as the basis for statutory damages is inappropriate and could lead to unintended consequences.
- A website may fail some WCAG standards and still be accessible.
- It fails to recognize that developers, platforms, and businesses work collaboratively in a fast-paced world of technology and AI, but instead promotes a lawsuit culture. It would shift full responsibility for a website’s accessibility to a developer or platform for things that may not be in their own control or may change due to emerging technology.
- It would substantially increase the cost of entry for creating, maintaining, and insuring a website, which would harm entrepreneurs, especially those who are minorities, people of color, the disabled, the elderly, and those who are just starting out.
- It would further victimize small businesses, who are often targeted by serial plaintiffs in “click-by-lawsuits” for minor accessibility violations beyond their control, and demanded exorbitant sums of money by plaintiff attorneys to settle these claims, leading to secret settlements in the tens of thousands of dollars, which can be a significant financial strain on businesses.
- It does not provide any relief from abusive or frivolous claims of inaccessibility under the Unruh Act, which has statutory fines of $4000 per infraction
- It will have significant economic consequences and a chilling effect on the tech sector of California.
- It provides no economic assistance to businesses to comply with unachievable standards by a deadline of Jan 2024
- Lastly, this bill affects any business or service provider anywhere in the world which has a physical location and a website that is available to be viewed in California.
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SPREAD THE WORD
We request you to contact the following:
- Call Disability Rights California which has the main supporter of the bill: 1-916-504-5800
- Your local Chamber of Commerce and ask them to get involved, spread the word to members, and issue public policy letters
- Write to: CA Chamber of Commerce – Jennifer Barrera – email: jennifer.barrera@calchamber.com, laurie.lively@calchamber.com, ben.golombek@calchamber.com
- Inform Business associations and industry groups
- Send to your customers in California
- Post on LinkedIn, Facebook, Facebook groups in your industry, Twitter, and other social media. Use hashtag: #stopab950
- Share with influencers in the business community
- Share with local news outlets about the devastating impact of accessibility lawsuits on small businesses
- Sign the Change.org petition
On May 2nd, 2023, there is a hearing for SB585 a competing bill by Senator Niello, related to accessibility lawsuits which we support. It allows for a notice-to-cure before a lawsuit can be filed. Because of the opposition to SB585, we think it’s important to make sure that everyone who supports its notice and cure provision to voice their support. The bill will be introduced to the Judiciary Committee on May 2, between 2-5pm.
During the bill’s “me too” portion, the Committee will allow anyone who wishes to support the bill to call in (or show up in person) and state their name, occupation and that they support the bill. Below is the information for calling in, in case you want to provide this to anyone to call in: public participation line for May 2 hearing is 877-226-8216, and the access code is 6217161.
On June 7th, there will be a legislative hearing by California Commission for Disability Access. Attend that virtually or in person. For details contact the CCDA and make your voice heard: https://www.dgs.ca.gov/CCDA/Meetings
MORE INFORMATION
Read the AB 950 bill here
Read the WCAG criteria here
Read our 2022 ADA Website Lawsuits Report