To Whom It Concerns:
2nd Draft – Last Friday, the US Access
Board under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) published a notice of
availability (http://www.access-board.gov/pvaac/noa-revised.htm
) in the Federal Register. This notice informed the public that a 2nd
draft of the Passenger Vessel Accessibility Guidelines (PVAG), dated July 7,
2006, and related discussion material was being made available for public
comment.
Rulemaking Process. As noted in the discussion material, the Board creates
guidelines under the ADA
which serve as the basis for enforceable standards maintained by other
agencies. To create final guidelines and enforceable standards, in
general, the rulemaking process will comprise the following actions.
·
Board made draft guidelines available for public comment (2004);
·
Board makes a second draft available for public comment and collects
regulatory assessment data (2006);
·
Board completes the regulatory assessment and publishes for public
comment a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on passenger vessel
accessibility guidelines and amendments to ADAAG for Buildings and Facilities
(which address on/off guidelines for landside facilities);
·
Board finalizes the vessel guidelines and ADAAG amendments, and updates
the regulatory assessment based on the final guidelines and amendments;
·
DOT completes its regulatory assessment and publishes its NPRM to adopt
the provisions from the vessel guidelines and ADAAG amendments into its
enforceable standards; and
·
DOT finalizes its standards and updates its regulatory assessment based
on the final standards.
Discussion Material – At the beginning of the
file (http://www.access-board.gov/pvaac/revised-draft.htm
) which contains the 2nd draft, discussion material regarding the content and
changes made in creating the 2nd draft is provided. This material also
contains the vessel case study list which the Board plans on using to collect
impact data that will be used in conducting a regulatory assessment. When
the Board publishes a NPRM regarding these guidelines, a regulatory assessment
will be included in that NPRM package.
Figures - This draft only contains four
figures which appear after section V404.2.5 and address the coaming
issue. In many cases, because the section numbering system and provisions
in the draft are similar to those found in the 2004 ADA-ABA Accessibility
Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities (ADA-ABAAG), you may use many of the
figures in ADA-ABAAG (http://www.access-board.gov/ada-aba/final.htm#1011)
to further understand the provisions in this draft of PVAG. (Note:
Be aware that Chapters 5 and 10 in the draft of PVAG were extensively
renumbered when compared to ADA-ABAAG.)
Advisory Notes – Unlike the 2004 draft, this
draft contains advisory notes which appear after applicable sections.
Comment Period – The 60 day comment period
will end on September 5, 2006. No public hearings are currently
planned. Comments submitted on the 2004 draft can be found on the
Board’s web site (http://www.access-board.gov/pvaac/comments/index.htm
). The Federal Register notice (http://www.access-board.gov/pvaac/noa-revised.htm
) provides directions on how to comment. We recommend you send your
comments to pvag@access-board.gov.
Questions - Should you have any questions
regarding the Access Board notice and related material, please do not hesitate
to call. Comments, however, must be sent per the instructions in the
Federal Register notice.
Paul Beatty
Phone 202-272-0012
Fax 202-272-0081
TTY 202-272-0082