DOJ Title II Compliance Guide

This guide exists because on April 24, 2024, the Department of Justice published a rule that changed the landscape for every state and local government in the country. If your entity publishes anything online — a website, a form, a PDF, a mobile app — you now have a specific technical standard to meet and a specific deadline to meet it by. What follows is everything you need to understand about what's required, when it's required, and what happens if you miss it.

What Is Title II of the ADA?

Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by state and local government entities. It requires that people with disabilities have equal access to all programs, services, and activities offered by these entities — including those delivered through the web.

In April 2024, the Department of Justice published a final rule (28 CFR Part 35) that formally requires web content and mobile applications of state and local governments to conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA. This rule eliminates ambiguity that had existed for years about what "accessible" means in the digital context and establishes a clear, enforceable technical standard.

Who Must Comply?

The rule applies to all state and local government entities, regardless of size. This includes:

• Cities and counties
• School districts and public K-12 schools
• Public universities and community colleges
• State and local courts
• Public libraries
• Transit authorities
• Public hospitals and health departments
• Law enforcement agencies
• Parks and recreation departments
• Any other instrumentality of state or local government

The requirements apply to all web content and mobile applications that are used by the public to access government programs, services, or activities. This includes websites, web applications, online portals, mobile apps, and digital documents published on those platforms.

Key Deadlines

The DOJ's final rule establishes two compliance tiers based on population size:

• April 24, 2026 — Entities serving populations of 50,000 or more must have web content and mobile apps conforming to WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
• April 26, 2027 — Entities serving populations under 50,000 must meet the same standard.

It is important to understand that these deadlines apply to all web content and mobile apps, not just new content published after the rule took effect. Existing content must also be brought into conformance by the applicable deadline.

What Is WCAG 2.1 Level AA?

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are an internationally recognized set of standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). They define how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities, including those with visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive impairments.

WCAG is organized around four principles:

1. Perceivable — Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive. This includes providing text alternatives for images, captions for video, and sufficient color contrast.
2. Operable — User interface components and navigation must be operable by all users. This means full keyboard accessibility, sufficient time to interact with content, and no content that could cause seizures.
3. Understandable — Information and the operation of the user interface must be understandable. Content should be readable, predictable, and include input assistance for forms.
4. Robust — Content must be robust enough to be reliably interpreted by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies such as screen readers.

Level AA is the middle conformance level and is the standard required by the DOJ's rule. It includes all Level A criteria plus additional requirements for contrast, resizing, and more complex interaction patterns. For a detailed breakdown of every criterion, see our WCAG 2.1 AA checklist.

Common Compliance Gaps

Based on widespread auditing data, the following issues are among the most frequently found on government websites:

• Missing or inadequate alternative text for images
• Insufficient color contrast ratios between text and background colors
• Forms without proper labels or error handling
• Missing keyboard navigation support for interactive elements
• Videos without captions or audio descriptions
• PDFs and documents that are not structured for accessibility
• Dynamic content updates that are not announced to screen readers
• Missing skip navigation links
• Improper heading hierarchy that prevents logical content navigation

Many of these issues affect large portions of a site and can be systematic in nature, making early identification and prioritization essential.

Enforcement and Penalties

The DOJ has authority to enforce Title II compliance through complaints, investigations, and civil litigation. Non-compliance can result in significant consequences:

• Civil penalties up to $75,000 for a first violation and $150,000 for subsequent violations.
• Court-ordered remediation requiring the entity to bring its digital properties into conformance within specified timeframes.
• Consent decrees that impose ongoing monitoring, reporting requirements, and third-party audits.
• Private lawsuits under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which can be filed when federal funding is involved.

Compliance is not optional. The rule makes clear that "good faith efforts" toward accessibility — without actual conformance to WCAG 2.1 Level AA — do not satisfy the requirement.

Limited Exceptions

The final rule includes a small number of narrow exceptions. Web content and applications falling under these categories may not be required to conform:

• Archived web content — Content that has not been updated after the compliance date and is maintained exclusively for reference or recordkeeping purposes.
• Preexisting conventional electronic documents — Documents created before the compliance date, unless they are currently used by the public to access government services or programs.
• Third-party content posted by the public — Content posted by members of the public on government platforms, subject to certain conditions regarding the entity's control over that content.
• Password-protected course content — Certain educational materials at postsecondary institutions that are available only through password-protected platforms, as a temporary exception.

These exceptions are intentionally narrow. Government entities should not rely on them broadly and should consult the full text of the rule to determine whether specific content qualifies. When in doubt, the safest approach is to make content accessible.

How to Prepare

Preparing for Title II compliance requires a structured, proactive approach. The following steps provide a practical framework:

1. Conduct a comprehensive accessibility audit of all public-facing web properties, including your primary website, subdomains, portals, and any mobile applications.
2. Prioritize findings by severity and user impact. Focus first on issues that block access to critical services such as online payments, permit applications, and public records requests.
3. Develop a remediation roadmap with clear timelines and assigned ownership for each issue category, working backward from your applicable deadline.
4. Train staff on accessibility best practices so that content creators, developers, and procurement teams can prevent new issues from being introduced.
5. Establish an ongoing monitoring process to detect regressions and new issues as content is added or updated.
6. Document your conformance with a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) or a published accessibility statement that describes your current status and remediation plans.

Foresera's compliance engine can help identify and prioritize your highest-risk gaps, giving you a clear starting point for remediation.

Documents and PDFs

Digital documents — particularly PDFs — are a significant component of government web accessibility. PDFs published by government entities must also meet accessibility standards. Key requirements include:

• Proper reading order so that assistive technologies can present content in a logical sequence.
• Tagged document structure with headings, lists, and tables correctly identified.
• Alternative text for all images, charts, and graphics within documents.
• Form field labels and descriptions for any fillable PDF forms.
• Sufficient color contrast and legible font sizes for text content.

Many government entities have large backlogs of inaccessible PDFs that will need to be remediated or replaced before the compliance deadline. Learn more about document remediation.

Additional Resources

The following resources can help you understand your obligations and begin working toward compliance:

• WCAG 2.1 AA Checklist — A complete breakdown of every success criterion you need to meet.
• Free Compliance Analysis — Scan your site against DOJ Title II requirements.
• Contact Our Team — Get answers to your specific compliance questions.

The organizations that will spend the least and face the lowest risk are the ones that start now. Not because of the penalties — though those are real — but because every month between now and your deadline is a month where someone in your community is trying to access a document you published and can't. The deadline exists to protect them. Acting early is the best thing you can do for your budget and your community.