Sponsors (2)
Introduced March 25, 2026 by Tammy Duckworth · Last progress March 25, 2026
The bill strengthens and clarifies accessibility standards and oversight for State Department facilities—improving access and safety for people with disabilities—while creating additional compliance, reporting, and renovation costs and short-term administrative burdens that will fall on agency budgets and taxpayers unless funding and enforceable implementation measures are provided.
People with disabilities across the United States and at overseas posts will have clearer, enforceable accessibility protections as Foreign Service operations are explicitly made subject to the Architectural Barriers Act, Rehabilitation Act §508 standards, and Access Board guidelines.
Regular inspections, required reporting, and added OIG reviews will increase transparency and accountability for State Department accessibility compliance, making it more likely that accessibility problems are identified and corrected.
Employees, visitors, and people with disabilities who use State Department facilities and overseas posts are likely to experience safer, more usable facilities because audits and inspections will spotlight accessibility barriers and encourage remediation.
Bringing existing facilities, information systems, and overseas posts into conformance with Access Board and §508 standards could require substantial renovation and compliance spending, imposing costs on agency budgets and ultimately taxpayers.
Collecting additional inspection data, expanding OIG review scope, and producing new reports will create ongoing administrative and oversight costs and may divert staff time from other diplomatic or consular operations.
Relying on self-reported snapshots and annual reports risks understating accessibility gaps at overseas posts and can delay corrective action where problems are missed between reporting periods.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Directs the State Department Inspector General to review compliance with Access Board and Architectural Barriers Act accessibility standards in periodic inspections and adds related statutory definitions.
Requires the Department of State Office of Inspector General to include a review of building and facility accessibility—measured against Access Board standards and the Architectural Barriers Act—in its periodic inspections, audits, and investigations of overseas posts and other operating units. The bill also amends the Foreign Service Act to add definitions for the Access Board, Accessibility Standards, and the Architectural Barriers Act so accessibility compliance is explicitly part of statutory oversight.