Proposed Title II Web Accessibility Rule

Proposed Rule Introduction to the Rule On July 25, 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a proposed rule that if adopted would clarify what state and local governments must do to have their web content be considered compliant with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (Title II). You can read the entire proposed rule and comment on it at Regulations.gov. Comments must be received by midnight EDT on October third. If you’re only interested in the highlights, you can read a fact sheet about the proposed rule published by DOJ. compliance Standard and covered Content Would make version 2.1 Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility guidelines (WCAG) the compliance standard under Title II Would apply to web content that a state or local government makes available to the public or to offer activities, programs, and services to the public Applies to mobile apps made available to the public or used to offer activities, programs, and services to the public Exceptions The proposed rule contains six exceptions. In most instances, content meeting one of the exceptions would not need to be automatically made accessible. Archived Web Content Web content meeting all three of the following factors would not need to comply with WCAG: The content is maintained only for research, reference, or record keeping. The content is kept in a special area for archived content. The content has not been changed since being archived. Preexisting Conventional Electronic Documents Web or mobile content meeting both of the following requirements would not need to automatically comply with WCAG. The documents are in certain file formats specified in the proposed rule, like word processing, presentation, PDF, or spreadsheet files. are available on the state or local government’s website or mobile app before the date the state or local government will have to comply with the rule (after the rule is finalized). This exception would not apply if the preexisting document is currently being used by the state or local government to provide information or to enable participation in an activity, program, or service of the state or local government; for example, an online PDF form created in 2021 enabling people to request tax statements would need to comply with WCAG even though it would have been created prior to the rule taking affect. Content Posted by a Third Party Web content posted on a state or local government’s website by a member of the public or that is otherwise out of the control of the state or local government would not need to comply with WCAG. States and local governments would not need to ensure all messages posted to their website by the public comply with WCAG. But if someone with a disability requests access to content that did not comply with WCAG, the state or local government would generally have to provide access to that information. Linked Third Party Content If a state or local government links to third party content on an external website, the state or local government would not need to ensure the content on the external site complies with WCAG. If a town links to local businesses, it would not need to ensure the web content of the local businesses complies with WCAG. But if the town links to an external website to provide information or to allow people to access activities, programs, or services offered by the town, the town must ensure that the third party web content complies with WCAG. If a town contracts with a vendor to allow for th