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P..l..'.g;.; 5 ': 1 6, :.. :3.s e r< E !L-O_..B A N ~ U H TO: G. Ste~en Pfeiffer Chairman, Flcricc. Builcli;"'J.\.;' Conunis::; Alfred C. Bragg, II! A~ 'AA~( Assistant General CounselV~ IV Accessibi:ity Requiremen~s fo Faci ties Churche5 and Other Religious Ent~ties FROM: RE: '1:'he i.';:s..:.e is whe~her under the Floridi:l American.s With D15- abilit~es .F.ccessibility !r.lplement.ation J...ct, as amended (the "Ac- cessibili ty Act")) buil dings ~ owned by leU,g ious en ti ties which woul~ otherwise be sUbJect to the requirement~ of the Accee~ibi:ity. Act are now exe~pt fro~ those requiremen~s cecause of the deletion' from the Act of language subjecting "churchEHi" to its requirernen-.:s. ~ ~ 553.505, Fla. Stat. (1995). One instance of such a building woul~ be a hospital owned by a religious organization. The issue takes on added complexity not only because of the differences in wording between the "religious oiganizationsU exemption in Title II: of the A:nericans ~.;it:. Cisabilit1'es Act ot 1990 and the one sub- jecting "c~urchesN to the AccesSibility Act, but also due to dif-. ferences in purpose between Title IIr and the Acc~ssibi1ity Act.' As first approved by the Legi~:ature, the Accessibility Act overrode the Title III exemption ~n the tollowing lanQ~aqe: "Not- withstandlng any provisio~ of the America.ns With .cisacilities h-:t .. of :990, churches and private clubs shall be governed by the re- quiremen:s of" the Accessibility Act. ~ 1, Ch. 93-183, Fla. Laws; ~ 553.505, Fla. Stat. (1995). The issue ari.ses because t;'le Legis- lature later amende-:l the Act by deleting "churches" from this sen- tence. S 4, Ch. 96-76, Fla. Laws. This reinstates the exemption for "churchesu under Title III, or ~o~e portion of it. The pivotal issue is ~hether the orloina1 reference to "churchesH was intended to denote the bUllding i~tself or ...as intend(~d tc have the broader meaning of a rei~qiou5 institution as a whole. The former inter- pretatio~ wc~ld c~e!te 2n exemp:io~ only fer :he b~ilding ~here the 1 An iss\Je related to this one, but not ~!;ddressed here, is the see p e 0 f the e :< e:n p ::: ion in T i tl e I! I 0 f the- A.m €~ r i can 5 ~H t h D i s a b i 1 i _ ties Act of 1990 for: \\.teligiot.:s organizations or entities controll- ed -by religious crganizati':ms, inclucing placl;s of 'r;orship." See 42 U.S.c. 5 122B7 (199~): 28 c.r.R. g 36.102(e) (1998).