An effort that began in 2010 under the Obama Administration — establishing web accessibility regulations for state and local governments under Title II of the ADA — has been renewed by the Biden DOJ. Kristina Launey and John W. Egan, partners at Seyfarth Shaw, dig into the history of this long-desired effort and what questions the regulations should address.
The DOJ has announced its intent to begin the rulemaking process to enact website accessibility regulations applicable to state and local governments under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This effort is a “long-term action,” with a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) — essentially a draft regulation — scheduled to arrive in April 2023 and DOJ to receive public comment no later than June 2023.
According to the DOJ announcement, because “many websites from public entities (i.e., state and local governments) fail to incorporate or activate features that enable users with disabilities to access the public entity’s programs, activities, services or information online,” the DOJ intends “to amend its Title II ADA regulation to provide technical standards to assist public entities in complying with their existing obligations to make their websites accessible to individuals with disabilities.”
This is very big…
