Title II Web Updates

State and local governments (including public higher education) provide many of their services, programs and activities through websites and mobile apps. When these websites and mobile apps are not accessible, individuals with disabilities may lose access to government services guaranteed to them.

The Department of Justice determined it was time to add an official technical standard to the Americans with Disabilities Act and updated Title II to include the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines using the 2.1 AA standards.

WCAG 2.1 was designed to better address mobile app accessibility that was largely ignored in the previous 2.0 version of WCAG. There are 17 new criteria that better address low vision, manual use of touch screens, cognitive and learning disabilities, speech input, and blindness.

In some limited situations, state and local governments may be able to show that their web content or mobile apps do not meet WCAG Version 2.1, Level AA in a way that is so minor that it would not change a person with a disability’s access to the content or mobile app. If the state or local government can show that, then they are not violating the rule.

State and local governments cannot use this part of the rule to avoid trying to meet WCAG 2.1, Level AA. If a state or local government’s web content does not fully meet WCAG 2.1, Level AA, there are many things the government would have to prove to show that they did not violate the rule.

TXST is required to conform to these new rules by April 24, 2026.

Yes, we will be required to assess vendor accessibility at the 2.1 AA level if their product is a web or mobile app. Operating systems, IT hardware that does not have an associated cloud application, and desktop software will continue to be evaluated at the 2.0 AA level.

It is a best practice to ask your vendor account managers or support representatives for their latest VPAT and request it be evaluated at the 2.1 AA level.

From section § 35.204 Duties:

"Where a public entity can demonstrate that compliance with the requirements of § 35.200 (Title II web updates) would result in a fundamental alteration in the nature of a service, program, or activity or in undue financial and administrative burdens, compliance with § 35.200 is required to the extent that it does not result in a fundamental alteration or undue financial and administrative burdens.  

In those circumstances where personnel of the public entity believe that the proposed action would fundamentally alter the service, program, or activity or would result in undue financial and administrative burdens, a public entity has the burden of proving that compliance with § 35.200 would result in such alteration or burdens."

If you feel that undue burden or fundamental alteration applies to your current circumstance, then consult with your leadership and contact the Office of General Counsel for review of your undue burden or fundamental alteration claims.

Action Plan: Understand how accessibility aligns with your role and what type of content you manage.

1. Review the basics of accessible design.
2. Identify what types of content you have on your website (Word files, PDF etc)
3. Review the appropriate standards for your content.

Action Plan: Identify and review every piece of content that you have created or currently maintain to determine what needs to be removed and/or remediated.

1. Use Siteimprove to access your website issue log and document issues you can remediate.
   1. Resource: Siteimprove
2. Using Siteimprove, locate all your PDF and Office documents.
   1. PDF are found under the accessibility tab.
   2. Other documents are found in the inventory area of the Qualtiy Assurance section.
3. Locate all multimedia embedded on your website.

Action Plan: By April 24, 2026, remove outdated or duplicate items from your websites that are not required to remain under our retention policy.

1. Read our Records Management Policy.
2. Remove old, innacurate, or unnecessary content.
3. Keep only the content that is active, required, or frequently accessed.

Action Plan: By April 24, 2026, have your remediation efforts underway. We must post accessible content on our websites.

1. Start with your most high impact content from Step 2.
2. Ensure documents linked on your websites pass accessibility checks in Word, PowerPoint, Excel, or Adobe Acrobat.
   1. Resources: Document Accessibility Guide.
3. Ensure all multimedia content is accurately captioned and all audio only content has a linked transcript.
   1. Resource: Captioning and Transcription Guide
4. Third Party Content: Request accessible versions or fix it yourself before distributing.
5. You should aim for an accessibility score of 90% or better in Siteimprove.
   1. Resource: Siteimprove

Action Plan: Use what you learned through this remediation process and apply accessibility to your content workflows going forward.

1. This will help you to avoid unncessary and resource demanding remediation requests.
2. Learn to avoid posting uncessary content. Title II requires a high level of WCAG compliance and less content is easier to manage.
3. Discontinue design practices that make remediation difficult, particularly with documents.
4. Learn to avoid using documents on your website when a webpage would suffice.