Title II Rulemaking on the Horizon for State and Local Governments in 2023

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that a new rulemaking process will be implemented to enact website accessibility regulations applicable to state and local governments. 

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) is scheduled to issue in April 2023, with public commentary due no later than June 2023. 

This action has been taken because there are still too many websites belonging to public entities that have failed to incorporate functionality and features that cater to disabled users. The DOJ plans to amend its Title II ADA regulation in a way that will assist these public entities with their compliance efforts. 

The last time that web accessibility was prioritized in this way was in 2010 by the Obama DOJ. Unfortunately, efforts were withdrawn in 2017 by the Trump DOJ. 

It was in March 2022 that the Biden DOJ issued Guidance regarding digital accessibility, a move that’s being celebrated by the disabled community. 

And even though right now the regulations would only apply to state and local governments subject to Title II, regulations that apply to private entities subject to Title III might soon follow suit. 

Some of the questions that Title II should answer following the rulemaking include:

• When is a website or mobile application considered accessible and compliant?
• How is accessibility and compliance measured?
• How long is a website protected against lawsuits during the compliance process?
• How does accessibility and compliance apply to third-party content?

Businesses who want to prepare and get ahead should turn to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 Level AA for the latest standards.