ADA Title II: web and app accessibility for state and local government

Legal status as of November 10, 2026: The DOJ rule on web content and mobile apps under ADA Title II (28 CFR Part 35, Subpart H) is in force. An interim final rule of April 20, 2026 moved its compliance dates to April 26, 2027 and April 26, 2028 without changing the requirements. The National Federation of the Blind has challenged the extension in court. We have found no decision yet, and no DOJ proposal to change the substance of the rule. This page explains the rules; it is not legal advice.

Who is covered by ADA Title II – including contractors

Title II applies to every public entity: state and local governments with their agencies and departments, special purpose districts, Amtrak and commuter authorities. DOJ’s examples range from public schools and universities to courts, elections offices, public hospitals, libraries and transit agencies. Utilities operated by a city or county are included – one of DOJ’s own examples is a password-protected water bill. Size does not decide whether you are covered, only by when.

Contractors, vendors and the platforms you buy

The rule covers web content and mobile apps that a public entity provides or makes available “directly or through contractual, licensing, or other arrangements”. DOJ’s examples are a county parks page built by a web design company and a city parking app run by a private company. Both must meet the standard.

The rule addresses the public entity, but in practice the obligation travels through the contract. Whoever buys a permit portal, payment system or learning platform should require WCAG 2.1 AA and ask how the vendor tested it. Some states go further: in Colorado, HB25-1152 requires contractors to meet the state’s accessibility standards and to indemnify the agency or school, even if the contract says nothing about it. If you sell to public bodies, this concerns you too.

The standard: WCAG 2.1 Level AA

The rule incorporates the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 of the W3C: every success criterion at Level A and Level AA, plus the conformance requirements, for everything from text and video to forms, documents and mobile apps. Compared with WCAG 2.0, version 2.1 adds criteria for mobile use, low vision and cognitive disabilities, such as reflow on narrow screens, contrast for icons and form field borders, text spacing and both screen orientations.

WCAG 2.2 builds on 2.1, and the W3C states that content conforming to 2.2 also conforms to 2.1. One detail: 2.2 removed criterion 4.1.1 (Parsing), and a report against 2.1 still has to address it. We test against 2.2 because it prepares you for newer criteria such as minimum target size – but under Title II, the benchmark remains 2.1 AA. More on our WCAG 2.2 page.

The flexibility the rule allows – and its limits

Equivalent facilitation allows other designs, methods or techniques if they result in “substantially equivalent or greater accessibility and usability”. A conforming alternate version is permitted only where technical or legal limitations prevent the original content from conforming. Under the minimal impact provision, a deviation is not a violation if it does not affect anyone’s ability to use the service; DOJ’s example is a text contrast ratio of 4.45:1 instead of 4.5:1. None of these is a shortcut: the public entity has to be able to demonstrate them.

Deadlines: April 26, 2027 and April 26, 2028

The 2024 rule originally set April 24, 2026 for larger entities and April 26, 2027 for smaller ones. The interim final rule of April 20, 2026 – four days before the first date – moved both by about a year:

• April 26, 2027 for public entities with a total population of 50,000 or more
• April 26, 2028 for public entities with a total population under 50,000 and for all special district governments

Population generally follows 2020 Census data. A unit without its own figure, such as a city library, uses the population of the government it belongs to; for school districts, the DOJ fact sheet explains separate rules.

What changed – and what did not

DOJ writes that it “overestimated the capabilities (whether staffing or technology) of covered entities” and that generative AI “does not yet reliably automate the remediation of inaccessible content at scale”. The requirements stay the same: “This IFR does not alter the substantive requirements adopted in the 2024 final rule.” During the extension, DOJ will consider proposing changes to the substance. If it does not, it “fully anticipates implementing the regulation at the new deadline”.

The NFB lawsuit

On May 21, 2026, the National Federation of the Blind sued DOJ and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. It argues that the extensions for Title II and for Section 504 were issued without prior notice and comment, in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, and that they are arbitrary and capricious. As of November 10, 2026, we have found no decision. If the court set the extensions aside, the earlier dates could matter again – ask your counsel what that would mean for you.

Why the obligation is not on hold

The new dates decide when you must meet the technical requirements of the 2024 rule. They do not suspend Title II: state and local governments “have been subject to title II for decades”, as DOJ notes. Regardless of the compliance dates, DOJ writes, covered entities have “an ongoing obligation to ensure that their services, programs, and activities offered using web content and mobile apps are accessible to individuals with disabilities” under their existing Title II obligations – effective communication included. Title II also gives individuals a private right of action. If a blind resident cannot renew a permit online today, “our deadline is 2028” is not a good answer.

Exceptions – and where they end

The rule names five exceptions, each with conditions:

• Archived web content – only if all four conditions are met: created before the compliance date (or reproducing older paper or other physical media), kept only for reference, research or recordkeeping, stored in a clearly marked archive area, and unchanged since it was archived. A folder called “archive” full of current material does not qualify.
• Preexisting conventional electronic documents – word processing, presentation, PDF and spreadsheet files posted before the compliance date. Not covered: documents posted or updated after that date, and documents people currently use to apply for, gain access to or participate in a service.
• Content posted by third parties – for example, posts by members of the public who do not act under a contract or other arrangement with the government. Content from your contractors, vendors or the tools you adopt is not excluded, and the platform itself must conform.
• Individualized, password-protected documents – files about a specific person, their property or their account, such as a water bill, that are password-protected or otherwise secured. HTML content and documents sent to all customers are not included.
• Preexisting social media posts – posts made before the compliance date. New posts must conform.

Beyond that, a public entity need not take measures that would fundamentally alter a service or impose undue financial and administrative burdens – decided case by case, and it must still do what it can short of that. Where an exception applies, the general Title II duties remain: effective communication, reasonable modifications, equal opportunity. DOJ’s examples include captioning an archived video or providing a large-print version of a password-protected bill on request.

PDFs and documents under Title II

Documents are web content under the rule: a PDF you post after your compliance date must meet WCAG 2.1 AA like the page that links to it. In our audits, documents are almost always the largest backlog – agendas, minutes, budgets, forms and reports from many offices. HHS heard the same from counties when it extended its own deadlines; they reported “time-consuming and costly remediation of PDF documents”.

New, old and in use

Three questions sort most document libraries: posted before your compliance date? Updated since? Used to apply for or take part in something? An old annual report that nobody edits or needs for a service can usually stay as it is, with an alternative format on request. A permit form from 2019 that residents still download falls outside the exception. Everything new must conform from day one, so the most effective fix sits upstream: templates and author training.

PDF/UA and WCAG: two yardsticks

The rule names WCAG 2.1 AA, not PDF/UA. PDF/UA (ISO 14289-1) defines how a PDF is built – tags, reading order, table structure, language. A PDF/UA-compliant file is the best foundation we know for meeting WCAG in a PDF, but WCAG asks more: Is the alternative text meaningful? Is the contrast sufficient? Do the form fields make sense with a screen reader? That is why we check documents against both. Our guide to ADA and Section 508 PDFs goes into detail.

Convert, archive or remediate

Not every PDF has to stay a PDF. Information that changes often or that people act on – fee schedules, application steps – usually works better as an HTML page. Historical material can be archived under the four conditions. The rest goes into remediation, most-used documents first. Software helps, but as DOJ notes, even generative AI does not yet reliably automate remediation at scale – every remediated document needs a human check.

A realistic 12-month plan

With a population of 50,000 or more, about five and a half months remain until April 26, 2027: run months 1 to 6 below in parallel and prioritize the services people use most. Smaller entities and special districts have until April 26, 2028 – enough time for twelve months of structured work.

1. Months 1–2: inventory and ownership. List every website, subdomain, app, third-party portal and document library. Name one responsible person. Confirm your deadline – and whether Section 504 applies too.
2. Months 2–3: baseline. Scan your main templates automatically, then test your key tasks by hand – paying a bill, applying for a permit, finding a meeting agenda – with a keyboard and screen readers such as NVDA, JAWS and VoiceOver. 60–70% of WCAG criteria cannot be tested automatically.
3. Months 3–4: stop the inflow. Document templates that produce tagged, well-structured files, training for everyone who publishes, and a check before anything goes online.
4. Months 3–6: templates, components, contracts. A fixed header or form component repairs every page that uses it. Add WCAG 2.1 AA to procurement and renewal terms, and ask vendors how they tested; an ACR shows their results per criterion.
5. Months 5–9: documents and apps. Convert, archive or remediate, in order of use. Test mobile apps on iOS and Android with the built-in screen readers.
6. Months 9–12: verify and keep it that way. Re-test key tasks with people who use assistive technology, monitor after every deployment, and give residents a clear way to report barriers and request alternative formats.

If I had to pick one rule: the order matters more than the speed. Stop creating new barriers, fix what people use most, then work through the long tail.

Related: Section 504 (HHS) deadlines

If a public entity also receives funding from HHS – common for public hospitals, clinics and health departments – Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act applies as well. The HHS web rule of May 2024 uses the same standard, WCAG 2.1 AA; an interim final rule of May 2026 moved its deadlines to May 11, 2027 for recipients with 15 or more employees and May 10, 2028 for those with fewer than 15. The NFB lawsuit targets this extension too. Separately, reports say that a federal court in Texas (Texas v. Kennedy) vacated the integration-related provisions of the 2024 HHS rule in September 2026; they do not say whether the web provisions are affected. If both rules apply, plan for the earlier date.

If you also sell to federal agencies, Section 508 applies to them, with WCAG 2.0 AA as its baseline and the ACR as the usual proof in procurement. See our Section 508 overview and our overview of US accessibility law, which shows how all four rules fit together.