A bill approved last week by the U.S. House of Representatives is drawing sharp criticism from Colorado’s advocates of the disabled but endorsements from business interests.

The legislative proposal would make it harder for disabled persons to sue businesses they accuse of creating architectural barriers to their access.

The bill would create a new obstacle to rules of the Americans with Disabilities Act that authorizes the lawsuits.

Instead, the bill, H.R. 620, would allow lawsuits only if the disabled persons notify business owners in writing of architectural barriers and meet with them to discuss how to overcome them. The businesses would have 120 days to make “substantial progress” to improve accessibility.

“We are horrified at H.R. 620,” said Julie Reiskin, executive director of the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, a Denver-based advocacy organization. “This will hurt people with disabilities because it will force lay people who are not attorneys to notify businesses, get precise ownership information and tell them what part of the law they broke before taking legal action.”

She said the bill could diminish the rights of 68 million disabled Americans.

The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) extends some protections to the disabled that were first described in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which makes discrimination illegal based on race, religion, gender or national origin.

The ADA also requires covered employers to offer disabled employees “reasonable accommodations” and to make public accommodations accessible.

The accessibility most often refers to removing barriers to wheelchairs but can include putting up Braille signs for blind persons or making handicapped parking spaces wide enough for paratransit vans.

Critics of the law say it is used excessively by persons claiming disability, sometimes to get money for attorneys rather than to ensure accessibility.

The critics can be found among Colorado Republicans in Congress.

“For far too long in Colorado and across the country, small businesses, such as local restaurants and retail shops, have fallen prey to unscrupulous lawyers and individuals looking to get quick paydays by filing dozens of lawsuits against small businesses who cannot afford the time or the money to go to court to defend themselves,” said Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora, who co-sponsored H.R. 620. “These suits are generally filed for very minor discrepancies, such as a door handles situated millimeters too high or too low, or even a mirror/fixture that is in the wrong place.

“This bill not only protects businesses from abusive lawsuits but also helps incentivize those businesses to become ADA compliant,” Coffman said.

One provision of the bill would create a program to educate businesses and local governments on how to improve disability access.

Rep. Ken Buck, R-Greeley, added, “This bill benefits business and the disabled by allowing them to resolve issues of non-compliance with the ADA in a way that empowers the disabilities community and allows a business owner a reasonable time to cure a defect before both sides face expensive litigation.”

Opponents of the bill included Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, who said, “I voted against H.R. 620, a cruel attack on the disabled that undermines the bipartisan Americans With Disabilities Act,” DeGette said. “We should be aiming to advance this progress but this bill could prove dangerously regressive.”

The bill, also known as the ADA Education and Reform Act, was introduced by Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, who said a primary goal of the legislation is to reduce frivolous lawsuits. Many of the ADA lawsuits are compelled by attorneys trying to collect fees, he said.

The ADA does not allow plaintiffs to collect monetary damages but it does authorize their attorneys to seek settlements for their fees.

Instead of taking on the cost and expense of lawsuits, many businesses settle the lawsuits, which can include paying the plaintiffs’ attorneys thousands of dollars in legal fees, according to congressional testimony.

A companion bill is pending in the Senate.