It has been brought to the Texas Department  of Licensiong and Regulation (TDLR) attention that buildings and facilities may be constructed or altered in violation of federal accessibility requirements if the Department allows compliance with the 2012 Texas Accessibility Standards (TAS) to be based on the date a construction project is registered. Therefore, the compliance criteria for the 2012 TAS has been amended to be consistent with criteria established by the U.S. Department of Justice for public accommodations and commercial facilities.

 Compliance with the 2012 TAS for new construction and alterations of all buildings and facilities subject to Chapter 469.003 is determined by:

•the date the last application for a building permit or permit extension is certified to be complete by a State, county, or local government;

•the date the last application for a building permit or permit extension is received by a State, county, or local government, where the government does not certify the completion of applications; or 

•the start of physical construction or alteration, if no building permit is required. 

 If that date is on or after March 15, 2012, then new construction and alterations must comply with the 2012 TAS.  If that date is on or after April 1, 1994, and before March 15, 2012, then new construction and alterations must comply with either the 1994 TAS or the 2012 TAS. 

But in order to be able to use the 2012 TAS before March 15, your entire facility or alteration must comply with the new standards.  You can pick and choose.  If you want to pick a portion to comply with the 2012 TAS and the rest of the project to be under the 1994 TAS, you must request a variance from TDLR.

I have arranged the figures of the 2010 ADA in 24×36 format sheets that architects and designers can use for their construction documents.  They are not created with borders or layers and must be modified to fit the designer’s CAD standards.  Remember that these should not be used instead of specific details.  Your drawings should communicate your specific conditions and these figures are generic.

Click here for zip file of the 2010 ADA Figures as found in the Access Board’s website

Click here for the ADA 2010 Standard Sheets.  These are eight 24×36 sheets without layers, colors or borders.  They are divided into sections, where the unique conditions such as recreational facilities are on separate sheets.  These are created from the CAD files that the Access Board provided.  They are to be used within each designer’s working drawing structure and not as stand alone sheets.  They should be for information and reference only.

This document is intended to serve as a general reference guide for identifying some of the changes that will affect the Texas Accessibility Standards (TAS) due to the new federal 2010 Standards of Accessible Design (SAD). It is not all inclusive.
This guide also identifies some TAS guidelines that are specific to the Texas standard and has not been incorporated into the SAD. It also acknowledges new SAD guidelines that have provided clarification to the requirements of both standards and includes supplementary provisions added to the SAD.

Remember that the 2010 ADA and the 2012 TAS will become mandatory on March 15, 2012.