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The Accessibility Clock Is Ticking for State Governments

State accessibility officers convened at the NASCIO Midyear Conference with a call to action: State and local governments must prioritize upgrading their websites to meet impending federal accessibility deadlines.

Texas Statewide Digital Accessibility Program Administrator Marie Cohan
Texas Statewide Digital Accessibility Program Administrator Marie Cohan.
Government Technology/David Kidd
PHILADELPHIA — As the clock ticks down to the federal web accessibility mandate deadline, some state and local governments could find themselves pushed to bring their extensive backlogs of online content into compliance.

At the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) Midyear Conference in Philadelphia, state accessibility officers sounded the alarm that many government agencies are behind and will need to work quickly to comply.

The Department of Justice issued a rule in April 2024 clarifying and strengthening accessibility requirements for state and local government websites and mobile apps under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The update aims to ensure that people with disabilities have equal access to essential government services and information online.
State and local governments with populations of 50,000 or more have until April 24, 2026, to comply with the Title II ADA WCAG 2.1 Level AA requirements, while those with populations under 50,000 and special district governments have until April 26, 2027.

Common existing barriers to equal access include governments posting information in PDFs, which are not always compatible with screen readers, missing alternative text captions for those who cannot see images, creating video content that does not include captions and using keyboard navigation barriers that exclude those unable to use a mouse.

The process of correcting barriers will take significant resources to audit decades worth of web pages and online content to identify non-compliant assets and update them.

“It’s got a lot of us scrambling, some folks were already kind of ahead of that, a lot of people are just trying to catch up and a lot of people are just being caught or blindsided because they have a very immature program right now,” said Marie Cohan, Texas' statewide digital accessibility program administrator, in an interview with Government Technology.

Cohan said many local agencies she works with have asked her where to start. To help, she’s put together a road map for local Texas governments and school districts.

Minnesota Chief Information Accessibility Officer Jay Wyant said putting an accessibility policy in place can also be a big first step to help foster buy-in from the entire government entity. He echoed Cohan’s sentiment that having an accessibility officer at the state level can provide critical leadership in helping local governments navigate the transition.
“It’s not just helping the state, but everyone else, we’re all in this together,” said Wyant.

He added that archiving content and creating templates with high accessibility standards can be helpful for a smooth transition rather than hacking “bits and pieces” at a time. Regardless, to meet the deadline, governments will need to decide where the extra resources to ensure the guidelines are met will come from.

"As we know, resources aren't unlimited," said Wyant. "They're going to have to make difficult decisions about how to allocate the time. That's why they have to start now."

Cohan added she is hopeful that the new ruling will signal a long-lasting emphasis on technology that is usable by all.

“I hope this is not a temporary blip where we’re all trying to catch up and once we get compliant we all kind of lay low. This is something that’s going to need to keep up with technology,” Cohan said. “When we’re developing technology we need to think of the three most important things: privacy, accessibility and security. That should be No. 1 from the very beginning.”
Nikki Davidson is a data reporter for Government Technology. She’s covered government and technology news as a video, newspaper, magazine and digital journalist for media outlets across the country. She’s based in Monterey, Calif.
Noelle Knell is the executive editor for e.Republic, responsible for setting the overall direction for e.Republic’s editorial platforms, including Government Technology, Governing, Industry Insider, Emergency Management and the Center for Digital Education. She has been with e.Republic since 2011, and has decades of writing, editing and leadership experience. A California native, Noelle has worked in both state and local government, and is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, with majors in political science and American history.
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