ADA Title II web accessibility rule: deadlines, scope and exceptions

The rule in one paragraph

On April 24, 2024, the Department of Justice published its final rule under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (28 CFR part 35, subpart H). For the first time, it set a technical standard for the web content and mobile apps that state and local governments provide or make available: WCAG 2.1 Level AA. On April 20, 2026 — days before the first deadline — the DOJ issued an interim final rule extending both compliance dates by a year. The requirements themselves did not change.

Compliance deadlines

“Total population” is the population of the jurisdiction, from the most recent decennial Census, not the number of people who use your website. A county public library uses the county’s population; a public university uses the population of the state or local government it is part of.

Who must comply

Every “public entity” under Title II, regardless of whether it receives federal funding:

• States, counties, cities, towns and villages
• State agencies, courts, legislatures and law enforcement
• Public school districts, community colleges and public universities
• Public libraries, hospitals, transit authorities and utilities
• Special purpose districts and other instrumentalities of state or local government

The rule also covers content that a public entity provides through contractors or vendors — a third-party payment portal, permitting system, learning management system or agenda-publishing platform. Your vendor’s accessibility is your compliance problem.

What content is covered

• Websites, including public pages and pages behind a login for residents, students or employees of the public.
• Mobile apps the entity provides or makes available.
• Conventional electronic documents: PDFs, Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.
• Audio and video: captions for prerecorded and live video, audio description for prerecorded video.
• Social media posts the entity publishes after the compliance date.
• Forms, payment flows and online services — permits, tax payments, court filings, registrations, applications.

The five exceptions

The rule exempts five narrow categories. Each has conditions, and the burden is on you to show an exception applies.

1. Archived web content — created before the compliance date, kept only for reference, research or recordkeeping, stored in a clearly designated archive area, and not changed since it was archived.
2. Preexisting conventional electronic documents — PDFs and other documents posted before the compliance date, unless they are currently used to apply for, gain access to, or participate in a service, program or activity. A 2019 permit application still in use is not exempt.
3. Content posted by third parties — for example, public comments on a forum — unless the third party is acting on the entity’s behalf (a contractor or vendor).
4. Individualized, password-protected documents — such as a specific person’s utility bill or tax statement — with the caveat that they must be made accessible on request in time for the person to use them.
5. Preexisting social media posts made before the compliance date.

Even exempt content must still be provided accessibly when a person with a disability requests it, under Title II’s general effective-communication requirements.

Other flexibilities in the rule

• Conforming alternate versions are allowed only where it is not possible to make content accessible because of technical or legal limitations.
• Measuring compliance: the rule allows an entity to be treated as compliant when nonconformance has such a minimal impact on access that it doesn’t prevent a person with a disability from using the content in substantially the same way.
• Fundamental alteration and undue burden defenses remain available, but the decision must be made by the head of the entity (or a designee), in writing, after considering all resources available — and you must still provide access to the maximum extent possible.

What enforcement looks like

The DOJ enforces Title II through investigations, compliance reviews and lawsuits, and individuals can file complaints with the DOJ or sue in federal court. Settlement agreements typically require, for three to five years:

• an accessibility coordinator and written policy,
• an independent audit and full remediation on a set schedule,
• annual training for web and document staff,
• a feedback mechanism and response times,
• regular compliance reports to the DOJ.

Read how this has played out for universities and colleges.

A practical plan for the next six months

1. Inventory every website, subdomain, app and third-party platform you run or pay for.
2. Audit a representative sample of pages and your most-used documents against WCAG 2.1 AA. Our checklist is a good first pass.
3. Triage your PDF library: remediate documents people still use, convert high-traffic forms to accessible web forms, and properly archive the rest.
4. Fix shared templates and components first — the highest return on effort.
5. Write accessibility into every contract and renewal, and ask vendors for a current ACR.
6. Train the people who publish content, and publish an accessibility statement with a way to report barriers.
7. Document everything. If you are investigated, your records of good-faith progress matter.