In April 2024, the Federal Register published the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) final rule updating its regulations for Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a new rule on the Accessibility of Web Content and Mobile Apps Provided by State and Local Governments.
The rule is explained in detail at https://bit.ly/ada-web-app.
Counties with a population of 50,000 and over have until April 24, 2026, to comply, and counties with a population under 50,000 have until April 26, 2027.
“This is a county issue,” emphasized CJCAT General Counsel Eric Magee during his class on Website ADA Rules and Regulations at the Annual State Conference in October. “You as members of Commissioners Court need to reach out to whoever is posting on your website and apps and ask about compliance.”
Jackson County Judge Jill Sklar echoed Magee in correspondence to counties in her capacity as chair of the Texas Association of Counties County Information Resources Agency (TAC CIRA).
“Counties are responsible for ensuring that the content they post to their website complies with the DOJ’s rulings,” Sklar stated.
Unless a county has an in-house team building its website, the county uses a vendor who “hosts” the website for the county, explained Lizzie Calvert, IT learning and development specialist with TAC.
“Most counties cannot easily fix product accessibility issues (explained below) without contacting their vendor and having them make changes ‘behind the curtain,’ ” continued Calvert, who co-presented with Magee during the CJCAT Conference.
TAC CIRA serves as the website host for numerous Texas counties, and Sklar reassured counties that CIRA is working with its vendor to ensure the website platform meets DOJ standards.
Calvert suggested counties using other website vendors request an “Accessibility Conformance Report,” which is a document that details a product’s conformance with accessibility standards.
Mission
The DOJ established guidelines with the overall mission of answering this question: Can individuals with disabilities who use and require accessible websites participate in and benefit from the county website?
During the conference training session, Magee and Calvert shared a video of a visually impaired gentleman attempting to use a website. As seen on the video, automated screen readers are utilized to read the content aloud. Too often, the text on the screen does not give the necessary information. For example, the text “For voting information, click here” may take the user to a scanned pdf that lists polling sites or mail-in ballot instructions. Scanned documents do not allow for a function key that reads the document aloud, leaving the user no way to access the information.
The regulations address the scenario above, along with other scenarios for those with hearing and mobility issues. Technically speaking, these regulations are known as The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Version 2.1, Level AA, available at https://bit.ly/ada-web-app. The rules address both “product” accessibility and “content” accessibility.
“Product” refers to the backend of the website, Calvert detailed, and includes anything “coded” into the background.
Content accessibility is driven by the county and includes images, text, documents, agendas, etc., Calvert specified. If anyone from the county is posting live on the website, the county needs to make sure the content meets the WCAG standards.
With the state requiring more and more information to be posted online, this could be a major overhaul for some counties, Magee observed, as counties sometimes post thousands of documents. While the process may seem overwhelming, counties should be able to work with their website vendors or in-house information technology experts to make necessary changes.
What Should You Do?
The Commissioners Court is the body responsible for ensuring compliance, and non-compliance with the ADA rules can result in legal challenges and penalties. With this in mind, Magee encouraged Judges and Commissioners to:
- Adopt a written policy that will ensure accessibility to your county website and apps.
- Contact your website manager or vendor to ensure the responsible party is aware of the new rules.
- Limit who can post on your website/app to ensure continued compliance.
