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Statement of Need: Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires the Access Board to issue accessibility guidelines for the construction and alteration of passenger vessels covered by the law to ensure that the vessels are readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities (42 U.S.C. 12204).

Summary of the Legal Basis: Title II of the ADA applies to state and local governments and title III of the ADA applies to places of public accommodation operated by private entities. The ADA covers designated public transportation services provided by state and local governments and specified public transportation services provided by private entities that are primarily engaged in the business of transporting people and whose operations affect commerce. (See 42 U.S.C. 12141 to 12147 and 12184.) Passenger vessels that provide designated public transportation services or specified public transportation services such as ferries and excursion vessels, and passenger vessels that are places of public accommodation such as vessels that provide dinner or sightseeing cruises are covered by the ADA. Titles II and III of the ADA require the DOT and DOJ to issue accessibility standards for the construction and alteration of passenger vessels covered by the law that are consistent with the guidelines issued by the Access Board. (See 42 U.S.C. 12134 (c), 12149 (b), and 12186 (c).) The DOT has reserved a subpart in its ADA regulations for accessibility standards for passenger vessels in anticipation of the Access Board issuing these guidelines. (See 49 CFR part 39, subpart E.) When DOT and DOJ issue accessibility standards for the construction and alteration of passenger vessels covered by the ADA, vessel owners and operators are required to comply with the standards.

Alternatives: In developing the proposed accessibility guidelines, the Access Board has received and considered extensive input from passenger vessel owners and operators, individuals with disabilities, and other interested parties for more than a decade. The Access Board convened an advisory committee comprised of passenger vessel industry trade groups, passenger vessel owners and operators, disability advocacy groups, and state and local government agencies to advise how to develop the accessibility guidelines. The committee submitted its report to the Access Board in 2000. In addition, over the years, the Access Board issued an ANPRM and three versions of draft accessibility guidelines and conducted in-depth case studies on various passenger vessels. The Access Board solicited and analyzed public comments on these documents in developing the proposed guidelines and regulatory impact analysis. All the published documents together with public comments are available on the Access Board's website at: http://www.access-board.gov/pvaac/.

Anticipated Costs and Benefits: The compliance costs for certain types of vessels would include: (1) the difference between the cost of constructing a vessel in the absence of the proposed guidelines and the cost of constructing a vessel complying with the guidelines and (2) the additional operation and maintenance costs incurred by vessel owners and operators as a result of complying with the guidelines. For certain large cruise ships, the compliance costs would be estimated based on the number of standard guest rooms and revenues that would be lost when the cruise ships would be replaced by new vessels complying with the proposed guidelines. According to the cruise industry, two guest rooms with mobility features occupy the same square footage as three standard guest rooms resulting in the loss of one standard guest room for every two guest rooms with mobility features. The Board's preliminary estimate of the cost of the draft proposed rule they range from $4 million in 2013 to $45 million in 2012 discounted at 7 percent. The estimate for 2012 is higher than any other year because the methodology assumes that existing vessels would be replaced at the end of their expected service life and a large number of existing vessels are beyond their expect service life so a disproportionate share of the compliance costs are front loaded in the first year. The proposed guidelines would afford individuals with disabilities the opportunity to travel on passenger vessels for employment, transportation, public accommodation, and leisure. By promoting equality of opportunity, the proposed guidelines would afford individuals with disabilities to achieve greater participation in our society, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency. The proposed guidelines promote our national values of equity, human dignity, and fairness, the benefits of which are impossible to quantify.