The DOJ extended the ADA Title II web deadlines by a year. Here is what changed and what didn't.

On April 20, 2026 the Department of Justice published an interim final rule that pushed the compliance dates of its 2024 web accessibility rule back by exactly one year. Public entities serving 50,000 or more people now have until April 26, 2027. Entities under 50,000 and all special district governments have until April 26, 2028.

What did not change

• The standard is still WCAG 2.1 Level AA for all web content and mobile apps you provide or make available.
• Title II still applies today. Websites were already covered by the ADA's general nondiscrimination requirement; the rule only adds a technical standard and a date.
• OCR complaints and private lawsuits do not wait for the deadline. Complaints against districts and municipalities are filed under the existing obligation.
• The limited exceptions (archived content, pre-existing documents, third-party content you don't control, password-protected individualized documents) are unchanged.

Why the extension is not a reason to wait

The DOJ's own explanation for the extension was that many small entities had not started. That is a statement about the size of the backlog, not about enforcement priorities. Every month you wait is a month of new content (flyers uploaded as images, PDFs, embedded calendars) that will need remediation later.

Practically, a one-year delay is enough time to do this properly instead of in a panic: baseline scan, fix the template-level issues with your web vendor, train content authors, and set up monthly or weekly monitoring so you stay there.

A realistic 12-month plan for a small entity

1. This month: run a free scan of your homepage, then a full-site scan. Record your baseline grade in a memo to leadership.
2. Months 1–3: fix template issues (contrast, skip link, page language, form labels, menu keyboard access). These are usually a few hours for your vendor and fix hundreds of pages at once.
3. Months 3–6: work through content issues page by page, starting with enrollment, bill pay, agendas and contact forms.
4. Months 6–9: adopt a content policy (alt text, headings, no image-only flyers, accessible PDFs or HTML alternatives) and train authors.
5. Months 9–12: publish your accessibility statement, designate an ADA coordinator for digital content, and keep the monitoring cadence.

If you want to see where you stand today, the free scan takes about a minute.