On the eve of Disability Pride Month, and the last day of the Delaware General Assembly’s session until January, the Senate passed House Substitute 2 for House Bill 48 (HS 2 for HB 48) to make certain that Delawareans with disabilities have equal access to Delaware businesses and government services by ensuring parking lots are accessible.
While the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) will be celebrating its 35th anniversary on July 26, Disability Rights Delaware (DRD) of Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. (CLASI) has seen time and time again that businesses and even government sites fail when it comes to ADA parking compliance. For example, DRD’s most recent poll monitoring report found that 54% of polling places were not fully ADA compliant.
“For years it has been on the backs of people with disabilities to file complaints to get noncompliant parking fixed,” says DRD Project Director Marissa Band. “HS 2 for HB 48 creates an upstream intervention–addressing the problem before it is even an issue, by creating a permitting process to ensure that parking is accessible when built or modified.”
HS 2 for HB 48 requires that a permit be issued by the local county or municipal authority to ensure that accessible parking spaces are compliant with the design and construction requirements of the ADA, and allows for a civil penalty of up to $500 on an individual or entity that does not construct and maintain ADA compliant parking spaces.
The bill also increases the fine for unlawfully occupying an accessible parking space, it and removes as a defense a spot’s technical noncompliance with the ADA, so long as the spot is clearly marked as accessible. Both the House and Senate have now passed the bill; it awaits Governor Matt Meyer’s action.
DRD thanks Representative DeShanna Neal, Senator Nicole Poore, Lt. Governor Kyle Evans Gay, the State Council for Persons with Disabilities, and the Delaware Developmental Disabilities Council for their leadership and collaboration to ensure Delawareans with disabilities have full access to our community.
Pictured above: Ann Fisher and John McNeal of the State Council for Persons with Disabilities (SCPD), Rachel Engle and Kristin Harvey of the Delaware Developmental Disabilities Council (DDC), and Marissa Band of CLASI’s Disability Rights Delaware, with Lt. Governor Kyle Evans Gay at Legislative Hall on June 30, 2025.
