What is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is a federal law that provides civil rights protections for individuals with disabilities similar to those provided to individuals on the basis of race, sex, national origin, age, and religion. The ADA guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations (such as stores, restaurants, and hotels), employment, state and local government services, and transportation.
What is Title II?
Title II is one of the five sections of the ADA. Title II applies to all services, programs, and activities provided by state and local governments. This includes the services, programs, and activities that state and local governments offer online and through mobile apps.
Background
On April 24, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice published a final rule in the Federal Register that updates Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The final rule clarifies and specifies how Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to digital content and digital services provided by state and local governments.
Notably, the final rule sets Web Content Accessibility Guidelines ("WCAG") version 2.1 Level AA as the technical standard for state and local governments’ digital content and digital services. This means that the following digital content types provided or made available by the Commonwealth must meet WCAG 2.1 Level A and Level AA accessibility requirements:
- All state-provided web pages and web applications
- All state-provided documents in Word, PDF, PowerPoint and excel formats
- All state-provided mobile apps.
- All state-provided social media posts
- All state-provided multimedia content.
"State-provided" means when digital content or services are provided or made available directly by the Commonwealth or through:
- contractual,
- licensing, or
- other arrangements.
This includes, for example, contracted software, marketing or IT professional services vendors, contracted managed service providers, or community-based organizations and non-profits that administer programs and provide services on behalf of the Commonwealth.
Timeline for Compliance
WCAG 2.1 Level A and AA is the Commonwealth’s minimum technical standard for digital asset accessibility including but not limited to web and desktop applications, mobile applications, multimedia content, social media content, electronic documents and artificial intelligence integrations, as established in the Commonwealth’s Enterprise Digital Accessibility Policy. Executive department agencies and contracted vendors must already comply with this policy. As such, web applications or digital content provided directly by the state or through a contracted vendor should adhere to WCAG 2.1 Level A and Level AA standards.
Specific to the federal rule, state organizations and larger municipalities with more than 50,000 residents have two (2) years (April 24, 2026) to comply with the federal rule. Small municipalities and government entities with a population less than 50,000 have three (3) years (April 26, 2027) to comply with the federal rule.
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