If you run a city, a district, a library or any other state or local government body, there is a date by which your website has to meet a specific accessibility standard. That date moved in 2026, and a lot of people still have the old one written down.
The rule, in one paragraph
On 24 April 2024 the Department of Justice published a final rule under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act covering the web content and mobile apps of state and local government entities. The technical standard it names is WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Not 2.2. The rule took effect in June 2024, with the compliance dates held back.
Both deadlines moved back by a year
On 20 April 2026 the DOJ issued an Interim Final Rule extending both compliance dates by twelve months, effective immediately.
| Entity | Original date | Current date |
| Population 50,000 or more | 24 April 2026 | 26 April 2027 |
| Population under 50,000 | 26 April 2027 | 26 April 2028 |
| Special district government, any size | 26 April 2027 | 26 April 2028 |
The DOJ cited resource constraints, staffing limits and slower-than-expected tooling, including the limits of generative AI for remediation work. The substantive requirements did not change. Only the dates did.
One caution: an Interim Final Rule takes effect straight away but stays open to revision. This one accepted comments through June 2026 and the DOJ said it intends further review. The dates above could be confirmed, moved again, or revisited. Check the current position before you plan a budget around them.
A later deadline is not protection from a complaint
This is the part that gets missed. Title II has always required equally effective communication for people with disabilities, and courts and the DOJ have long read that to include websites. The 2024 rule set a technical standard and a date. It did not create the duty.
So the extension buys time to reach a defined standard. It does not stop someone filing a complaint or a private lawsuit next month. The DOJ also said it “fully anticipates implementing the regulation at the new deadline”, which is not the language of a rule about to be dropped.
Your vendor’s platform is still your obligation
The rule covers web content and mobile apps a public entity provides to the public, whether you run them yourself or through a vendor. Using a third-party platform for permits, payments, job listings or agendas does not move the responsibility off you.
There are exceptions, and they are narrow:
- Archived content kept only for reference and unchanged since archiving
- Pre-existing documents such as PDF, Word or Excel that are not currently used to apply for or access a service
- Third-party content not posted by you or on your behalf
- Individualised password-protected documents, such as one resident’s bill
- Pre-existing social media posts
Read those narrowly, because that is how they are written. Anything actively used to deliver a service is in scope.
The PDFs are usually the biggest hidden cost
Public agency sites are full of them: board minutes, rate schedules, annual water quality reports, permit applications. A PDF that a resident currently uses to access a service is covered, and the PDF itself has to be accessible.
This is routinely the largest line item in a remediation project and it is nothing like website work. Price it separately, and count your documents before you agree a number with anyone.
Private businesses have no deadline and still get sued
Private businesses and public accommodations fall under Title III, which has no adopted technical standard. There is no federal rule naming a WCAG version for them.
In practice, courts and settlement agreements land on WCAG 2.1 Level AA anyway, and the DOJ choosing 2.1 AA for Title II is widely read as a signal of what it would adopt if it ever regulates Title III. If you are a private business, the absence of a deadline is not the same as the absence of exposure.
What to do with the extra year
Build to WCAG 2.2 AA, not 2.1. Every 2.1 A and AA criterion carries into 2.2, so meeting 2.2 meets the rule automatically, and it puts you ahead of the next regulatory update rather than behind it.
Then do the inventory. Count the templates, count the documents, and find out which of them a resident actually uses to get something done. That list is the project.
Sources: 28 CFR Part 35 Subpart H; DOJ Interim Final Rule, 91 Fed. Reg. 20902 (20 April 2026).