Is the DOJ Web Accessibility Rule in Danger?

First up, the Trump Administration is attacking some fundamental disability rights that 99.99% have taken for granted for the last 30+ years. How fundamental? Well, how about the requirement that newly constructed buildings be accessible?! Unless you just stepped out of a time machine from the Civil War, you know that governments and businesses need to make their buildings accessible to people with disabilities. Of course, if you receive funding from the federal government, you have the same obligation. Each of the federal agencies, including the Department of Energy, have their own version of this requirement. In fact, the Department of Energy’s version has been around since 1990.

Apparently, being part of federal regulations for the last 35 years isn’t enough for the current administration to consider this requirement “unnecessary” or suddenly “unduly burdensome.” Worse yet, the Trump Administration wants to “fast track” rescinding the regulation using a process called a “direct final rule,” whereby a regulation can be rescinded in only two months if there are “no significant adverse comments.”

It's been over thirty years since I took my Administrative Procedures class in law school so I had to look up how an agency could rescind a rule this quickly and avoid the usual notice-and-comment period that ensures government processes are transparent and democratic. Normally, when an agency wants to change a regulation, it needs to issue a draft regulation, receive comments from the public for at least 90 days, and read through and consider all of those comments. Plus, those comments are part of the public record so anyone can access them and challenge the regulation if the agency didn't consider an important point raised in the comments. From what I learned, a “direct final rule” is usually saved for uncontroversial changes and avoids all those democratic safeguards, BUT, if even a single meaningful comment is received that challenges the agency’s actions, the agency MUST go through a formal rulemaking before it can rescind the regulation. So, of course, I immediately submitted a comment! Here’s what I wrote,

The new construction and alterations requirement in the current regulations cannot be withdrawn because it would be a significant departure from the longstanding expectations for federal fund recipients for over 40 years. While federal fund recipients do have general nondiscrimination requirements, these general protections are insufficient if specific requirements (such as the new construction and alterations requirements) are removed. Also, these requirements are not overly burdensome because building owners have been required to make their facilities accessible under the ADA since 1992-- and the additional costs of incorporating accessibility features into new construction are negligible if considered during the design phase. Maintaining these requirements and harmonizing them with modern accessibility standards only improves efficiency as it enables fund recipients to follow the same best practices as the rest of the country. Removing these standards only increases confusion and, when fund recipients are later sued anyway because they have parallel obligations under other accessibility laws, will fuel resentment from business owners.

Accessible facilities open opportunities to millions of people with disabilities in our country. It makes us more competitive as a nation because we can harness the knowledge and talent of our country's people with disabilities. It makes our country fairer than other countries because it opens services and opportunities to all our residents. It simply makes us better.

The “direct final rule” process is sneaky, and I honestly think that the current Administration was hoping that no one would notice what they were doing before it was too late. It was announced on May 16, 2025. All comments must be received by June 16 (yes, two weeks from today) and the rule will go into effect on July 16, 2026. If you care about disability rights, please go to the Federal Register webpage for the new rule and submit your opposition to the rule NOW!

Given this Administration’s predilection for ignoring the law until a court tells them otherwise, I fully expect that we’ll see Department of Energy’s new construction requirements rescinded no matter how many comments are received. Then, a federal court will have to tell the agency that they violated the law and need to go through a formal rulemaking. But a judge can’t do that unless we oppose the regulation by submitting our comments!