AUGUST 2017 • FOGHORN 31 LEGISLATIVEREPORT EASY MANEUVERABILITY Give your passengers a smooth ride with reliable John Deere PowerTech™ propulsion and generator drive engines. With high torque and low-rated rpm, they deliver excellent vessel control and quiet operation. For easy navigation on the water — Nothing Runs Like A Deere™. JohnDeere.com/marine 60 to 559 kW (80 to 750 hp) with the Access Board’s proposal and to incorporate its provisions into your vessel design to the extent that you can. Doing so will be evidence of your “good faith” effort to comply with the ADA if someone ever challenges you, and it’s a good business decision to make your vessel as welcoming as possible to potential passengers with disabilities. Go to the Access Board website (www.access-board.gov) and click on the “Transportation” link to the left, and then click on “Passenger Vessels.” Other than the Access Board, what other agencies have ADA rules? Two federal agencies – the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) – each haveADArules that affect passenger vessel operators. They have been in effect for several years, and they apply to passenger-carrying vessels, no matter how large or small. PVA staff refers to them as the “service” rules. The purpose of these rules is to prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities and impose a duty on covered entity to adjust its practices and procedures to accommodate such persons. The DOT rule applies to vessels engaged in transportation of passengers from point A to point B (ferries, water taxis, cruise ships), while the DOJ rule applies to passenger vessels that are considered to be public accommodations (primarily vessels that embark passengers at pointA, then sail around, and return again to point A for passenger disembarkation). The DOT and DOJ rules are substantially the same, but they differ in some par- ticulars. In the “Members Only” section of the PVA web page (www.passenger vessel.com), you will find download- able documents summarizing the DOT and DOJ “service” rules. You can see the rules themselves at www.ecfr.gov. You may also operate in a state or city that has its own accessibility re- quirements. It’s your responsibility to check this out, and it may be that the state or local law may have require- ments that differ from the federal ones (this is permissible, as the ADA doesn’t have a preemption feature). For example, New York City has its own ordinance. Sometimes a state “Human Rights” law will impose accessibility requirements. Isn’t it crazy to have two federal agencies issue separate rules imple- menting the same law? Yes. If you’d like an explanation as to how this bizarre situation came about, give me a call or send me an email. What is the ADA’s limited obligation to remove barriers? This part of the statute applies to existing public accommodations, including passenger vessels. Thus, every PVA vessel operator should be aware of it. It’s not a directive that every