DEC 11 1995

The Honorable Bill Emerson

Member, U.S. House of Representatives
The Federal Building
339 Broadway
Cape Girardeau, Missouri 63701

Dear Congressman Emerson:

I am responding to your letter on behalf of your

constituent, Sheriff Bill Ferrell, who is concerned about
accessibility requirements for persons with disabilities. Please
excuse our delay in responding.

Sheriff Ferrell is concerned that retrofitting the Scott

County administrative offices and jail in order to make them
accessible would constitute an undue financial burden on the
County. Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in State and
local government services. Sections 35.149 and 35.150 of the
Department's title II regulation (enclosed) require accessibility
to programs, services, and activities in facilities existing on
the effective date of the statute, January 26, 1992. The
principal focus of the program accessibility standard is access
to programs, services, and activities, as opposed to access to
physical structures. Therefore, not every area of an existing
county jail or administrative office building would have to be
made accessible, as long as there is access to the buildings'
programs, services, and activities.

For existing facilities, every building does not necessarily

have to be made accessible if all of the programs located inside
that building can be made accessible by alternative means.
Section 35.150(b)(1) of the title II regulation does not require
that a local government eliminate structural barriers to all its
facilities if it provides access to its programs through
alternative methods such as redesign of equipment, reassignment
of services to accessible buildings, assignment of aides to
beneficiaries, delivery of services at alternate accessible
sites, alteration of existing facilities and construction of new
facilities, or any other methods that result in making the
services, programs, or activities readily accessible to and
usable by individuals with disabilities.
cc: Records, Chrono, Wodatch, McDowney, Milton, FOIA
n:\udd\milton\congress\existfac.eme\sc. young-parran

01-04099
​ -2-

If structural alterations are necessary to provide program

accessibility, such alterations must be undertaken unless the
public entity can demonstrate that the alterations would cause a
fundamental change to its program or that the cost of the
alterations would result in undue financial and administrative
burdens. 28 C.F.R. S 35.150(a)(3). The decision that any
proposed alterations would result in a fundamental change or in
undue financial and administrative burdens must be made by the
head of the public entity or his or her designee after
considering all the resources available for use in the funding
and operation of the service, program, or activity. Where an
action would result in such a fundamental change or undue
burdens, the public entity must take any other action that would
not result in such change or such burdens but would nevertheless
ensure that individuals with disabilities receive the benefits or
services provided by the entity.

I hope this information assists you in responding to your

constituent.
Sincerely,

Deval L. Patrick
Assistant Attorney General
Civil Rights Division
Enclosure
01-04100