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April 24, 2026 was the federal deadline for state and local government websites to conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA under 28 CFR Part 35. Entities that did not conform are now exposed to DOJ enforcement and private litigation. Scan your site free in 60 seconds.
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DOJ civil penalties per violation under the ADA
ADA Title III lawsuits filed in 2025 (Seyfarth Shaw)
of top 1M sites fail WCAG conformance (WebAIM Million)
What to do now
Run a free scan to see your current WCAG conformance score and the violations on your homepage. This is the documented starting point you can show to counsel, your IT team, or DOJ investigators.
The full report ($49) lists every violation by severity, mapped to the specific WCAG criterion, with the HTML element involved. Critical violations like missing alt text and unlabeled forms are the issues most often cited in demand letters.
Ongoing monitoring ($49/mo) gives you weekly timestamped scans. Use the history to show DOJ or opposing counsel that you are actively remediating, not ignoring the obligation.
The rule
On April 24, 2024, the Department of Justice published a final rule amending Title II of the ADA. The rule requires that all web content and mobile applications of state and local government entities conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Entities serving populations of 50,000 or more had until April 24, 2026. Entities serving populations under 50,000 have until April 26, 2027.
The rule covers web pages, PDFs, Word documents, video content, and third-party widgets embedded on the site. A government entity remains liable for accessibility failures of third-party tools it deploys.
The DOJ can pursue civil penalties of up to $75,000 for a first violation and $150,000 for subsequent violations. Private plaintiffs can pursue injunctive relief and recover attorneys' fees under 42 U.S.C. § 12188.
FAQ
State and local government entities serving populations of 50,000 or more were required to conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA by April 24, 2026 under 28 CFR Part 35. Entities that did not conform are now exposed to two distinct risks: DOJ enforcement actions and private litigation. The DOJ can pursue civil penalties up to $75,000 for a first violation and $150,000 for subsequent violations. Private plaintiffs can file suit seeking injunctive relief and attorneys' fees.
Entities serving populations under 50,000 still have until April 26, 2027 to comply. The same WCAG 2.1 AA standard applies. Small jurisdictions should not wait until 2027 because remediation typically takes 3 to 6 months and plaintiff attorneys are not constrained to filing only against larger entities.
ADA Title III applies to private businesses operating places of public accommodation. There is no codified date in Title III, but federal courts routinely use WCAG 2.2 Level AA as the benchmark for whether a website is accessible. 8,667 ADA Title III lawsuits were filed in federal court in 2025 alone (Seyfarth Shaw). The Title II deadline does not change Title III obligations, but it raises public attention and enforcement activity in ways that affect private businesses too.
Our scanner runs axe-core, the industry-standard open-source accessibility engine, against your page. It checks dozens of WCAG 2.1 / 2.2 AA rules including missing alt text, unlabeled form inputs, color contrast failures, ARIA misuse, heading structure, keyboard traps, and missing language attributes. These are the violations most commonly cited in demand letters and DOJ findings.
A scan is the first step. It documents your current state, identifies the highest-risk violations, and gives your team or attorney a concrete remediation plan. Courts and the DOJ look favorably on entities that can show good-faith effort. A scan is not a substitute for remediation, but it is the documented starting point.
A 60-second scan is the documented first step toward reducing exposure.
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