The Department of Justice’s final rule under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act sets the hardest website accessibility deadline most government IT teams have ever faced: April 24, 2026 for entities serving populations of 50,000 or more, with smaller jurisdictions following on April 26, 2027.
If you run technology for a state agency, county, special district, or any other public entity, this rule affects you. Here is what it actually requires, what happens if you miss it, and where to start if you have not yet.
The April 24, 2026 deadline in plain English
The rule — 28 CFR Part 35, “Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in State and Local Government Services” — requires that web content and mobile apps provided by state and local governments conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
“Conform” is the operative word. It does not mean “make an effort.” It means measurably meet the standard.
Who is covered: State and local government entities — agencies, departments, public schools, courts, public libraries, transit authorities, regional planning organizations — serving a total population of 50,000 or more.
What is covered:
- Websites (everything under your domain)
- Mobile apps (native iOS, Android)
- Online services and interactive content (forms, portals, payment systems)
- Documents you make available to the public (PDFs, Word docs, spreadsheets)
- Third-party content you have integrated or required residents to use
The standard: WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Not AA-ish. Not “meeting WCAG 2.0.” Not “accessible in spirit.” The specific Level AA success criteria.
The April 26, 2027 deadline for smaller jurisdictions
If your total population served is under 50,000, your deadline is a year later: April 26, 2027. Same requirements, same standard, just more runway. If you are in this group, take it seriously — a year passes faster than you think, and the 2026 cohort’s enforcement and litigation will set precedent for everyone else.
Colorado-specific note: HB 21-1110 is already in effect for state agencies and public entities. You are already subject to a state accessibility requirement regardless of when the federal deadline applies to you.
Penalties — what non-compliance actually costs
Title II itself does not impose fines directly. Enforcement happens through three channels.
Federal investigation and enforcement
The Department of Justice and the Department of Education can investigate complaints, open compliance reviews, and negotiate settlement agreements. Settlements typically require a specific remediation timeline (usually 12 to 36 months), mandatory staff training, third-party accessibility audits, and public reporting.
Civil litigation
Individuals can sue under Title II. The more common pattern in recent years is ADA demand letters — a letter from a plaintiff’s attorney alleging specific accessibility failures, demanding settlement to avoid suit. These are increasing rapidly for small businesses under Title III and are moving into the Title II government space.
Financial exposure
Though there is no statutory “fine” for Title II violations, recent settlements and related Section 504 cases have included penalties up to:
- $75,000 for first violations
- $150,000 for subsequent violations
These figures are case-dependent. The bigger financial risk is the cost of reactive remediation under legal pressure — typically three to ten times more expensive than proactive compliance.
Colorado HB 21-1110 — the state angle
Colorado passed HB 21-1110 in 2021, predating the federal rule. It requires state agencies and public entities to meet the accessibility standards established by the Office of Information Technology (OIT) — effectively WCAG 2.1 AA.
For Colorado government IT teams, this means you are already subject to a state accessibility requirement. The federal Title II deadline layers on top. If you have been working toward HB 21-1110 compliance, you are largely prepared for the federal rule — the substantive standards are aligned. If you have not, the 2026 deadline should be the forcing function.
What the rule requires, specifically
The core requirement: WCAG 2.1 Level AA conformance. Practical translation:
- Text alternatives for images and non-text content
- Captions for audio and video
- Logical reading order and structure (proper heading hierarchy)
- Color contrast meeting 4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text
- Keyboard-only operability of all interactive elements
- Visible focus indicators
- Time-based content adjustments available (pause, stop, adjust)
- Language of page declared
- Predictable navigation across pages
- Input assistance (labels, error messages, correction suggestions)
- Compatibility with assistive technologies (screen readers, voice control, switch input)
This list paraphrases. The full normative text is in WCAG 2.1 AA itself — roughly 50 success criteria. Every page your agency publishes needs to meet every applicable criterion.
Where to start
If you are reading this and you have not yet started, here is a realistic sequence.
1. Inventory your digital assets
List everything under your control that serves the public: primary website(s), subdomain sites, mobile applications, citizen-facing portals (permitting, licensing, payment), intranet services the public can access, and any embedded or linked third-party services. Do not forget PDFs and Word documents — they count.
2. Run an automated accessibility scan
Automated tools cover 60 to 70 percent of WCAG success criteria reliably. They are the fastest way to find the biggest issues. Run AccessGuard Scanner or an equivalent against your highest-traffic pages first. You will get a letter grade, categorized findings, and specific fix recommendations.
Do not be discouraged by a low starting grade. Most government sites pre-remediation score C or D. The goal is to know where you stand and what the gap is.
3. Prioritize findings by severity and reach
Not every issue blocks the same users equally. Fix in this order:
- Critical-severity issues on pages with the highest traffic (homepage, login, search, forms, key information pages)
- Critical-severity issues on lower-traffic pages
- Major-severity issues on high-traffic pages
- Everything else
Critical issues block major user groups entirely (keyboard traps, missing form labels, content images with no alt text). Major issues significantly hamper users (low contrast, broken heading hierarchy). Minor issues affect some users in some contexts.
4. Schedule a manual audit for the gaps automation misses
Automated scanning misses 30 to 40 percent of WCAG criteria — screen reader flow, cognitive accessibility, complex widget behavior, video caption quality, dynamic content. These require manual testing with assistive technologies.
For most government sites, a manual audit on five to ten representative pages will catch the majority of the automation blind spots. Castle Rock Sky offers manual audits as a consulting service; other accessibility consultancies offer the same.
5. Build a remediation schedule — and stick to it
Work backward from the deadline. For a site with a moderate number of findings:
- Critical fixes: 4 to 8 weeks
- Major fixes: 2 to 4 months
- Minor fixes and ongoing monitoring: through the deadline and beyond
Document what you fixed and when. This becomes your audit trail if the Department of Justice ever asks.
The honest truth about automated scanning
Every accessibility vendor will tell you their tool is the best. Most will not tell you what automated tools cannot do.
Automated scanning covers the rule-based portion of WCAG — missing alt text, color contrast, heading hierarchy, form labels, ARIA validity. These checks are deterministic and reliable. Automated scanning cannot reliably check whether alt text meaningfully describes the image, whether captions convey the audio accurately, whether a complex interactive widget is actually usable, cognitive accessibility (reading level, jargon, confusing navigation), or screen reader user experience flow.
If you rely on automation alone, you will hit a ceiling around 60 to 70 percent WCAG coverage. Past that, you need manual testing. If anyone tells you otherwise, they are selling you something.
Resources
- ADA.gov — DOJ’s authoritative ADA information site, including Title II guidance and the web accessibility final rule
- WCAG 2.1 quick reference — searchable by success criterion
- Colorado OIT — search for HB 21-1110 accessibility standards
- AccessGuard Scanner — free automated scan, no account required
Ready to see where you stand?
Every remediation plan starts with the same question: what is actually broken? AccessGuard Scanner answers that in 30 seconds. If your grade is rough, that is useful information — you now know the scope. If your grade is solid, even better, but schedule a manual audit to confirm.