What ADA Title II's 2027 and 2028 Deadlines Mean for Your City
Jack Mudd is co-founder and CEO of AuditAble. He works directly with municipalities navigating ADA Title II compliance requirements.
Update: April 2026
The DOJ extended both Title II web accessibility compliance deadlines by one year through an Interim Final Rule (28 CFR Part 35, AG Order No. 6742-2026, RIN 1190-AA82, effective April 20, 2026). The new dates below reflect that extension. The underlying WCAG 2.1 Level AA technical requirements and ADA Title II obligations have not changed; only the compliance dates moved.
The Department of Justice's Title II web accessibility rule now has two compliance dates: April 26, 2027 for state and local government entities serving 50,000 or more people, and April 26, 2028 for smaller public entities and special district governments. If you run IT for a city, county, school district, library system, or special district, WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the technical standard your public web content and mobile apps will be measured against. The April 2026 extension gives teams more planning time, but it does not change the technical bar or the underlying ADA Title II obligation. Here is what the rule actually requires, what enforcement looks like, and what to do now.
What the Rule Actually Says
The DOJ's Final Rule (28 CFR Part 35) establishes WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the technical standard for all web content and mobile applications published by state and local government entities covered by Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This is not a suggestion or a best practice. It is a binding federal regulation with the same legal force as building code requirements for wheelchair ramps and accessible parking.
The rule covers everything: your main website, your online payment portals, your meeting agendas posted as PDFs, your recreation registration forms, your online permitting systems, and your social media content if it serves as a primary communication channel. If a resident needs it to participate in government services, it has to be accessible.
Who Is Covered and When
The deadlines break into two tiers based on population:
April 26, 2027: Entities serving 50,000+ residents
Cities, counties, school districts, library systems, transit authorities, and special districts with a total population of 50,000 or more in their jurisdiction.
April 26, 2028: All other state and local government entities
Smaller municipalities, townships, rural school districts, and every other Title II entity regardless of size.
If you serve a county of 120,000 residents, you are in the first tier. If you are a school district within that county serving 30,000 students, you are also likely in the first tier based on the population you serve. The DOJ has made clear that this applies broadly: cities, counties, school districts, community college districts, library districts, housing authorities, water districts, and any other instrumentality of state or local government.
What WCAG 2.1 AA Actually Requires
WCAG 2.1 Level AA contains 50 individual success criteria organized around four principles known as POUR:
Perceivable (16 criteria)
Content must be presentable in ways all residents can perceive. This includes alt text on images, captions on videos, sufficient color contrast, and content that works when text is resized to 200%.
Operable (17 criteria)
Interface components must be operable by everyone. All functionality must work via keyboard alone, residents must have enough time to read content, and nothing should cause seizures or physical reactions.
Understandable (8 criteria)
Content must be readable and predictable. Pages must identify their language, forms must have clear labels and error messages, and navigation must be consistent.
Robust (9 criteria)
Content must work reliably with current and future assistive technologies. This means valid HTML, proper ARIA attributes, and status messages that screen readers can announce.
AuditAble's automated checks evaluate 28 of the 50 WCAG 2.1 AA criteria today (33 when AI-assisted evaluation is enabled), covering many Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust requirements, and every criterion the scan did not test is reported as Not Evaluated. The remaining criteria require human review with assistive technology. This is why a scan is a starting point, not a finish line.
Enforcement Is Real and Happening Now
The DOJ has not waited for the compliance deadline to begin enforcement. Consent decrees and settlement agreements have already been reached with government entities across the country. In 2024, multiple Texas counties entered settlement agreements over inaccessible election-related web content. Under those settlements, each county was required to hire an independent accessibility auditor, remediate all existing content, train staff, and submit to ongoing DOJ compliance monitoring, ongoing obligations far beyond a one-time fix. Service Oklahoma faced enforcement action over inaccessible online services. These cases resulted in mandatory remediation plans, ongoing monitoring requirements, and significant legal costs.
The penalty structure under the ADA is substantial: up to $115,231 for a first violation and up to $230,464 for subsequent violations (2024 inflation-adjusted per 28 CFR § 85). But the financial exposure extends well beyond fines. Settlement agreements typically require hiring accessibility consultants, implementing ongoing monitoring programs, training staff, and remediating all existing content, costs that routinely exceed $250,000 for mid-size municipalities.
Private plaintiffs have also become increasingly active. Advocacy organizations and law firms specializing in ADA enforcement have filed complaints against hundreds of local government entities. Once a complaint is filed, the cost of defense alone, regardless of outcome, typically runs $10,000 to $150,000 depending on case complexity, with settlements averaging $25,000 to $85,000 on top of that.
Your Five-Step Emergency Action Plan
If your entity is not yet at WCAG 2.1 AA conformance, here is what to prioritize now:
Step 1: Get a Baseline Scan This Week
You cannot fix what you have not measured. Run an automated accessibility scan across your entire public-facing web presence. This gives you an objective baseline score, a prioritized list of violations by severity, and documentation that you have begun the compliance process. A free scan from AuditAble runs your homepage and key service pages (up to 15) in a few minutes, no account required. It gives you a baseline readiness score, a prioritized violation list, and documentation that you have already begun the compliance process.
Step 2: Fix the Critical and Serious Issues First
Not all accessibility violations carry the same weight. Missing alt text on decorative images is different from a payment form that cannot be completed with a keyboard. Focus your immediate remediation effort on critical violations (features that are completely unusable for some residents) and serious violations (features that are very difficult to use). These represent the highest legal risk and the greatest impact on the residents you serve.
Step 3: Publish an Accessibility Statement
An accessibility statement on your website demonstrates good faith and provides residents with a way to report barriers. Include your commitment to WCAG 2.1 AA, a contact method for reporting accessibility issues, and your timeline for remediation. This does not substitute for actual compliance, but it shows the DOJ and any potential complainants that you are taking the requirement seriously.
Step 4: Document Your Remediation Plan
Create a written plan with specific milestones and deadlines. The DOJ's enforcement history shows that entities with documented, active remediation plans receive significantly more favorable treatment than those with no plan at all. Your plan should include: the date of your baseline assessment, the number and severity of issues found, your prioritized remediation timeline, and who is responsible for each phase.
Step 5: Set Up Ongoing Monitoring
Accessibility is not a one-time project. Every new page published, every PDF uploaded, every form field added can introduce new violations. Establish a regular scanning cadence, monthly at minimum, and integrate accessibility checks into your content publishing workflow. Your remediation plan should include provisions for maintaining compliance, not just achieving it.
The Bottom Line
The Title II web accessibility deadline is now a planning problem, not an abstract future concern. For entities serving 50,000+ residents, April 26, 2027 is the compliance date. For smaller entities and special district governments, April 26, 2028 is the compliance date. The entities that fare best will be the ones that can demonstrate they took concrete, documented steps toward conformance. The ones that fare worst will be those who assumed their site was fine without ever testing it.
If you have not yet scanned your website, start there. It takes a few minutes and costs nothing. At minimum, you will know where you stand. At best, you will discover your site is in better shape than you feared. Either way, you will have the data you need to make informed decisions about what comes next.
Find out where your site stands before your deadline
Government teams across the country are using AuditAble to assess their WCAG 2.1 AA readiness. Get your free report card in a few minutes, no account required.
Not ready to scan yet? Read our ADA compliance guide for government or explore more resources.
Get the Five-Step Action Plan as a PDF
The five steps in this article, formatted as a one-page reference you can share with your team or attach to a council briefing. No account required.