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State IT staff urges agencies to meet DOJ web‑accessibility mandate by April 2026
Summary
A Department of Administrative Services representative told the board that the Department of Justice requires state and local governments to meet WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards for publicly posted online content by April 2026 and urged agencies to include accessibility in all public data and portal plans.
A Department of Administrative Services representative reminded the Data Analysis Technology Advisory Board on Oct. 25, 2025, that the U.S. Department of Justice has issued accessibility guidance requiring state and local government public online content to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 level AA by April 2026.
The DAS representative told the board, “anything that's presented online to the public has to meet a WCAG 2.1 Double A,” and recommended agencies coordinate with statewide accessibility work to avoid duplicated effort and rework. Staff noted the mandate applies to state‑owned platforms and that material brought online outside the enterprise umbrella may later require remediation to meet the standard.
Board members said some recent materials — including the WestEd report and slide deck discussed at the meeting — were reviewed to meet accessibility standards before release. Staff said accessibility resources and an agency policy are being distributed and that agencies should contact DAS or the accessibility team for guidance and audits as they prepare public portals or reports.
No formal vote was taken. Staff asked agencies to consider accessibility requirements when planning data publication or public portals and to coordinate with statewide teams to prioritize remediation work ahead of the April 2026 deadline.
