U.S. Dep’t of Justice, "Accessibility of Web Content and Mobile Apps Provided by State and Local Government Entities: A Small Entity Compliance Guide" (2024)
On April 24, 2024, the Federal Register1 published the Department of Justice’s (Department) final rule updating its regulations for Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The final rule has specific requirements about how to make sure that web content and mobile applications (apps) are accessible to people with disabilities.
On April 20, 2026, the Federal Register2 published the Department’s Interim Final Rule (IFR) extending the compliance date for State and local government entities with a total population of 50,000 or more to April 26, 2027. The compliance date for public entities with a total population of less than 50,000, or any special district government, is extended to April 26, 2028. For more information, please read the IFR. The official version of the IFR is published in the Federal Register.
Purpose of this guide: This Small Entity Compliance Guide3 (“guide”) is meant for people who work for or with small state and local governments. The guide will help you understand the rule’s requirements for making sure your government’s web content and mobile apps are accessible.
Title II uses the term “public entities” to describe who it applies to. In this guide, we call public entities “state and local governments.”
Throughout this guide, the Department includes examples to illustrate different parts of the requirements for web content and mobile app accessibility under Title II. These examples are meant to help clarify specific details about the requirements. But they do not include all the facts that might be relevant in a real-world scenario in determining how to comply with the web content and mobile app accessibility requirements. So these examples are not meant to be a determination that your state or local government is or is not complying with Title II. Instead, they are intended to be a helpful illustration of how parts of the requirements might work in some situations.
Title II of the ADA requires state and local governments to make sure that their services, programs, and activities are accessible to people with disabilities. Title II applies to all services, programs, or activities of state and local governments. This includes the services, programs, and activities that state and local governments offer online and through mobile apps.
State and local governments provide many of their services, programs, and activities through websites and mobile apps. When these websites and mobile apps are not accessible, they can create barriers for people with disabilities.
Websites and mobile apps that are not accessible can make it difficult or impossible for people with disabilities to access government services, like ordering mail-in ballots or getting tax information. These services are quickly and easily available to other members of the public online. Sometimes, inaccessible websites and mobile apps can keep people with disabilities from joining or fully participating in civic or other community events like town meetings or programs at their child’s school.
Accessibility requirements for web and mobile apps will help make sure people with disabilities have access to state and local governments’ services, programs, and activities. The requirements will also provide state and local governments with more clarity about what they have to do to comply with the ADA.
Like the rest of Title II, the web content and mobile app accessibility requirements apply to all state and local governments. State and local governments include any agencies or departments of the governments. Title II and the web content and mobile app accessibility requirements also apply to special purpose districts, Amtrak, and other commuter authorities.
Examples of state and local governments include:
For more information about the responsibilities of state and local governments under Title II, visit our State and Local Governments page.
If you have a contract, license, or other arrangement with another entity to provide public services for your government, you still need to make sure that those services comply with Title II. This includes making sure that any web content or mobile apps the other entity provides or posts for your government meet the accessibility requirements in Title II. This might mean working with vendors to help ensure they understand these requirements or seeking out vendors with such knowledge. For example, if a town hires an outside web developer to design and build the town’s website, the town needs to make sure that the web developer’s design complies with the web content and mobile app accessibility requirements under the ADA.
Starting on April 26, 2028, small state and local governments have to make sure that their web content and mobile apps meet the requirements in the rule. After this time, you must continue to make sure your state or local government’s web content and mobile apps meet the accessibility requirements.
| State and local government size | Compliance date |
|---|---|
| 0 to 49,999 persons | April 26, 2028 |
| Special district governments | April 26, 2028 |
| 50,000 or more persons | April 26, 2027 |
A special district government is a public entity—other than a county, municipality, township, or independent school district—allowed by state law to provide one function or a limited number of designated functions with enough independence to be a separate government. Special district governments do not have populations calculated by the United States Census Bureau. Special district governments include, for example, a mosquito abatement district, utility district, transit authority, water and sewer board, zoning district, or other similar state or local government entity that has a specific function.
A school district is not a special district government. If it is a city school district, it would use the population of the city to know when to comply. If it is a county school district, it would use the population of the county. If it is an independent school district, it would use the population estimate in the most recent Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates.
To figure out the date, you have to know the population of your state or local government. For most governments, this is a number you can find in the 2020 data from the U.S. Census Bureau. For smaller parts of a larger government that do not have a population listed there, like a city police department or a city library, you can look at the population of the larger government they are part of, like the city that runs the police department and library in this example.
The ADA has always required state and local governments to provide individuals with disabilities with effective communication, reasonable modifications, and an equal opportunity to participate in or benefit from government services, programs, and activities. These requirements still apply to your state or local government’s services, programs, and activities offered online and through mobile apps before the rule’s start dates. After the rule’s start dates, you need to make sure your government’s web content and mobile app meet these requirements as well as the specific requirements for web content and mobile app accessibility.
The requirements for making web content and mobile apps accessible are highlighted below. The requirements are explained in full detail in the final rule.
There is a specific technical standard that your state or local government must follow to meet your obligations under Title II of the ADA for web and mobile app accessibility. That technical standard is WCAG 2.1, Level AA.
WCAG, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, is a set of guidelines that say what is needed for web accessibility, such as requirements for captions for videos. WCAG is developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
A technical standard says specifically what is needed for something to be accessible. For example, the existing ADA Standards for Accessible Design are technical standards that say what is needed for a building to be physically accessible under the ADA, such as how wide a door must be or how steep a ramp can be. This guide is about the technical standard that applies to web content and mobile apps.
The requirements apply to web content that your state or local government provides or makes available. This includes when you have an arrangement with someone else who provides or makes available web content for your government.
“Web content” is defined as the information and experiences available on the web, like text, images, sound, videos, and documents.
The requirements apply to mobile apps that your state or local government provides or makes available. This includes when you have an arrangement with someone else who provides or makes available a mobile app for your government.
Mobile apps are software applications that are downloaded and designed to run on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.
Yes, these requirements do not stop your state or local government from using designs, methods, or techniques as alternatives to WCAG 2.1, Level AA if you can prove the alternatives provide the same or more accessibility and usability. This is called “equivalent facilitation.” Equivalent facilitation is allowed so that you can have some flexibility, while also making sure that people with disabilities still have equal access to your government’s web content and mobile apps.
There are limited exceptions for some kinds of content that are not as frequently used or that may be particularly hard to address right away.
These exceptions are included so that you can prioritize making the most important content—like current or commonly used information—accessible to people with disabilities quickly.
If an exception applies to certain content, it means that content would not have to meet WCAG 2.1, Level AA.
In the next section, we describe the exceptions and provide examples of how they might apply. We also give examples of when the exceptions would not apply.
The ADA requires that your state or local government must provide individuals with disabilities with effective communication, reasonable modifications, and an equal opportunity to participate in or benefit from your state or local government’s services, programs, and activities. So even when web content or content in mobile apps does not have to meet WCAG 2.1, Level AA, you would likely still need to provide the content to a person with a disability who needs it in a format that is accessible to them.
Learn more about your existing ADA obligations to ensure effective communication.
Learn more about your existing ADA obligations to make reasonable modifications.
State and local governments’ websites often include a lot of content that is not currently used. This information may be outdated, not needed, or repeated somewhere else. Sometimes, this information is archived on the website.
Your state or local government’s web content that meets all four of the following points would not need to meet WCAG 2.1, Level AA:
Example: A water quality report from 1998 that a state has stored only for research purposes in an “archive” section of its website and has not updated would fall under the exception. The exception would also apply to handwritten research notes or photos that go with the 1998 water quality report that the state scans and posts to its website in the archive section.
Example: City council meeting minutes created after the date the city must comply with this rule would not fall under the exception, even if they are posted in the “archive” section of the city’s website, because this content was created after the time the city had to comply with this rule.
Example: A spreadsheet of 2021 COVID-19 statistics posted in the “archive” section of a county health department’s website would not fall under the exception if the spreadsheet is later edited and reposted in the archive because the content was changed after it was first posted in the archive.
Example: A PDF document that includes up-to-date instructions for scheduling an event in a county park would not fall under the exception, even if the document is posted in the “archive” section of the county’s website. The PDF provides current information about using the park. The exception would not apply because the content is not kept only for reference, research, or recordkeeping.
Reminder: If an exception does not apply to specific web content, that web content needs to meet WCAG 2.1, Level AA, apart from the very limited situations discussed later in this guide.
The ADA requires that your state or local government must provide individuals with disabilities with effective communication, reasonable modifications, and an equal opportunity to participate in or benefit from your state or local government’s services, programs, and activities.
Some state and local governments have a lot of old documents, like PDFs, on their website. It can sometimes be hard to make these documents meet WCAG 2.1, Level AA.
Your state or local government’s documents that meet all three of the following points do not need to meet WCAG 2.1, Level AA:
Example: This exception would apply to a PDF flyer for a Thanksgiving Day parade posted on a town’s website in 2018, or a Microsoft Word version of a sample ballot for a school board election posted on a school district’s website in 2014.
Example: After the date a town has to comply with the rule, it posts a PowerPoint presentation that will be used in an upcoming town council meeting. The presentation would not fall under the exception because it was posted after the rule’s compliance date.
Example: After the date a city has to comply with the rule, it updates a Microsoft Word document that was first posted on its website in 2020 to include the city’s new contact information. The updated document would not qualify for the exception anymore.
Example: A state posted a PDF version of a business license application on its website in 2020. Members of the public still use that PDF to apply for a business license after the date the state has to comply with the rule. The exception would not apply to the application.
Reminder: If an exception does not apply to specific web content or content in mobile apps, that content needs to meet WCAG 2.1, Level AA, apart from the very limited situations discussed later in this guide.
Third parties sometimes post content on state and local governments’ websites or mobile apps. Third parties are members of the public or others who are not controlled by or acting for state or local governments. Your state or local government may not be able to change the content third parties post.
Content that is posted by third parties on your state or local government’s website or mobile app would not need to meet WCAG 2.1, Level AA.
Third-party content posted by the state or local government.
Content posted by a state or local government’s contractor or vendor.
Tools and platforms that allow third parties to post content.
Reminder: If an exception does not apply to specific web content or content in mobile apps, that content needs to meet WCAG 2.1, Level AA, apart from the very limited situations discussed later in this guide.
The ADA requires that your state or local government must provide individuals with disabilities with effective communication, reasonable modifications, and an equal opportunity to participate in or benefit from your state or local government’s services, programs, and activities.
State and local governments sometimes use password-protected websites to share documents that are for specific individuals, like a water or tax bill. It might be hard to make all of these documents accessible right away for everyone, and there might not be a person with a disability who needs access to these documents.
Your state or local government’s documents that meet all three of the following points do not need to meet WCAG 2.1, Level AA:
Example: A PDF version of a water bill for a person’s home that is available in that person’s secure account on a city’s website would fall under the exception. However, the exception does not apply to the city’s website itself.
Example: If a person’s water bill is made available for them to view on a password-protected website as HTML content, the exception would not apply because the content is not in one of the listed document formats.
Example: If the water company posts a PDF document on a password-protected website about an upcoming rate increase for all customers, the exception would not apply because the document is not about one customer’s account.
Reminder: If an exception does not apply to specific web content or content in mobile apps, that content needs to meet WCAG 2.1, Level AA, apart from the very limited situations discussed later in this guide.
The ADA requires that your state or local government must provide individuals with disabilities with effective communication, reasonable modifications, and an equal opportunity to participate in or benefit from your state or local government’s services, programs, and activities.
For many state and local governments, making all of their past social media posts accessible may be impossible. There also may be very little value to making these old posts accessible because they were usually intended to provide updates about things happening at the time they were posted in the past.
For these reasons, your state or local government’s social media posts made before the date your government must comply with this rule do not need to meet WCAG 2.1, Level AA.
The ADA requires that your state or local government must provide individuals with disabilities with effective communication, reasonable modifications, and an equal opportunity to participate in or benefit from your state or local government’s services, programs, and activities.
Usually, yes. But there are some situations where meeting WCAG 2.1, Level AA is not required:
Under the ADA rules, your state or local government does not need to take actions that would result in a fundamental alteration or an undue burden. This is also true when applying the requirements of the rule. Determining what a fundamental alteration or undue burden is differs from entity to entity and sometimes from one year to the next.
You are also allowed to use designs, methods, or techniques as alternatives to WCAG 2.1, Level AA if you can prove the alternatives provide the same or more accessibility and usability.
In very limited circumstances, there may be technical or legal limitations that prevent you from making your web content or content in mobile apps directly accessible. In those rare situations, which are discussed more below, your state or local government could provide a separate accessible version of the content that complies with WCAG 2.1, Level AA.
Sometimes a state or local government tries to have two versions of the same web content or content in a mobile app: one version that is not accessible and another version that is accessible and provides all the same information and features. The second version is called a “conforming alternate version.”
Usually it is not allowable to have a main web page that is inaccessible and a separate accessible version of the same content, because people with disabilities should get equal access to that content on the same page.
Under the rule, your state or local government may use conforming alternate versions as an alternative to inaccessible content only in very limited circumstances. You are allowed to do this only when there is a technical or legal limitation that prevents inaccessible web content or mobile apps from being made accessible.
Sometimes a person with a disability may not be able to access your web content or mobile apps even if they meet WCAG 2.1, Level AA. If this happens, you are not required to make more changes to your state or local government’s web content or mobile apps that meet the technical requirement. However, your state or local government must still satisfy its other obligations under the ADA to provide individuals with disabilities with effective communication, reasonable modifications, and an equal opportunity to participate in or benefit from your government’s services, programs, and activities. You must figure out on a case-by-case basis how best to meet the needs of the individual with a disability.
In some limited situations, state and local governments may be able to show that their web content or mobile apps do not meet WCAG Version 2.1, Level AA in a way that is so minor that it would not change a person with a disability’s access to the content or mobile app. If the state or local government can show that, then they are not violating the rule.
You cannot use this part of the rule to avoid trying to meet WCAG 2.1, Level AA.
If your web content fails to meet WCAG 2.1, Level AA, you would have to prove two things:
You would have to prove that the failure to meet WCAG 2.1, Level AA does not change what people with disabilities can use your web content or mobile apps to do. You must show that despite the failure, people with disabilities can access the same information, engage in the same interactions, conduct the same transactions, and otherwise participate or benefit from your same services, programs, and activities as individuals without disabilities. You also have to prove that the failure to meet WCAG 2.1, Level AA does not change the way people with disabilities can use your web content or mobile apps. In other words, you must show that the failure does not make it harder, slower, or more frustrating for someone with a disability to use your web content or mobile apps, and that they do not lose any privacy or independence because of the failure.
Example that violates the rule: A state’s online renewal form does not meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Because of that, a person with a manual dexterity disability may need to spend a lot more time to renew their professional license online than someone without a disability. This person might also need to get help from someone who does not have a disability, give personal information to someone else, or go through a much harder and more frustrating process than someone without a disability. Even if this person with a disability could ultimately renew their license online, the state would violate the rule.
Example that meets the rule: A state’s web page with information about a park has text with a color contrast ratio that is 4.45:1. WCAG 2.1, Level AA requires a color contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for this text. It can be hard for some people with vision disabilities to see text on a web page if there is not enough contrast between the color of the text and the background color. But that very small difference in color contrast ratio probably would not change whether most people with vision disabilities could read the text on the website and access the information about the park. If the state can prove the difference in color contrast is so small that it would not make it harder for people with disabilities to access the information about the park, the state would not violate the rule.
Creating and maintaining accessible web content and mobile apps takes planning. Below are some practices that state and local governments can use to help plan for success. Starting these practices well before the date that you have to start complying with the requirements of the rule can help ensure the process goes as smoothly as possible.
You can help set your government up for success by creating policies on web and mobile app accessibility. These policies could identify specific actions that your government will take to start complying with the rule and stay compliant in the future. These policies may be similar to, or part of, the other ADA nondiscrimination policies you may have adopted.
There are lots of topics that you might include in your government’s policies, depending on what your needs are. For example, your government’s policies might:
Sometimes, members of the public might need to get in touch with your government about accessibility issues. Your government can set up processes to make this easy for people to do. Some examples of processes include:
An important part of ensuring success in complying with the ADA is thorough and ongoing staff training. You may have good policies, but, if staff or volunteers are not aware of them or do not know how to implement them, problems can arise. It is important that staff receive training about how to ensure that content is accessible. This includes staff who update or post on your websites or mobile apps. Some state and local governments might hold their own trainings, while others might use trainings that are available online for free.
Training may look different depending on the specific duties and responsibilities assigned to staff members. Some of examples of trainings might include:
W3C’s website contains additional information about planning and managing accessibility for web content and mobile apps that you may find helpful when thinking about how to comply with this rule: https://www.w3.org/WAI/planning-and-managing/
If you have questions about this rule or the ADA, you can call the ADA Information Line.
You can also contact the ADA National Network. The National Network includes ten regional centers that provide ADA technical assistance. One toll-free number connects you to the center in your region: 800-949-4232 (Voice and TTY).
The official version of the rule is published in the Federal Register at 89 FR 31320 (April 24, 2024). Back to text
The official version of the IFR is published in the Federal Register at 91 FR 20902 (April 20, 2026). Back to text
This guide was prepared as a “small entity compliance guide” under Section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996. The guide is not a substitute for the rule. Only the rule itself provides complete and definitive information about its requirements. For all the details about the rule, please read the full final rule. Back to text
The Americans with Disabilities Act authorizes the Department of Justice (the Department) to provide technical assistance to individuals and entities that have rights or responsibilities under the Act. This document provides informal guidance to assist you in understanding the ADA and the Department’s regulations.
Guidance documents posted to this website are not intended to be a final agency action, have no legally binding effect, and have no force or effect of law. The documents may be rescinded or modified in the Departments’ complete discretion, in accordance with applicable laws. The Departments’ guidance documents, including this guidance, do not establish legally enforceable responsibilities beyond what is required by the terms of the applicable statutes, regulations, or binding judicial precedent. For more information, see 1-19.000 – Principles for Issuance and Use of Guidance Documents, https://www.justice.gov/jm/1-19000-limitation-issuance-guidance-documents-1.