TAC County Information Resources Agency (CIRA)

Make sure you understand the Department of Justice’s final rule and what’s expected to make your website accessible.

Key takeaways

• Understand the rule
  • DOJ fact sheet
  • Full DOJ final rule (PDF)
  • Small Entity Compliance Guide
• Compliance deadlines
  • Local governments with a population of 50,000 or more:
    Compliance deadline: April 24, 2026
  • Local governments with a population up to 49,999:
    Compliance deadline: April 26, 2027
• Learn about the technical standard
  • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1
  • Understanding WCAG 2.1
  • WCAG checklists

Action for today
Read through the requirements and consider your deadline. And don’t worry – we will be providing training resources in a future step!

Want to test your knowledge?
Take our accessibility quiz!

Your county should designate at least one web accessibility coordinator, who will serve as the main point of contact on web accessibility issues and post an accessibility statement.

What you need to do

• Identify key roles: Determine who within your county will be responsible for ensuring compliance, including IT staff, web developers, procurement staff and others who may play a role in accessibility.
• Set clear expectations: Assign specific responsibilities to relevant staff and create a culture of accessibility by clearly defining roles to avoid confusion. This should include who is responsible for developing and publishing accessible content (including PDFs and other files) to your website.
• Accessibility Statement: Add an accessibility statement to your site. This statement should explain that your website follows ADA accessibility guidelines and provide a way for users to report issues. If you’re a CIRA member, we can post an accessibility statement for you. If not, check out W3C’s resources.

Action for Today:
If you’re not a website accessibility coordinator for your county, make sure they get these emails by joining our mailing list!

Making a website accessible requires time and resources. Some changes can be made in-house, but others may require outside help. With budget season in full swing, this is a good time to set aside budget money for web accessibility.

Budget resources

• Accessibility expert Kris Rivenburgh offers budgeting tips in a recent episode of the Texas County Voice podcast.

Providing regular training for staff ensures they are equipped to create, review and update content that improves access for all constituents.

Resources:

• The General Services Administration and Web Accessibility Initiative offer online courses and training videos.
• Accessibility expert Kris Rivenburgh explains web accessibility fundamentals and busts web accessibility myths on the TAC CIRA training page.

What you need to do

• Add descriptive link text. Ensure that each hyperlink is clear and describes the content users will access when they click it. For example, instead of "click here," use "Read more about our upcoming events."
• Keep consistent formatting. Make sure all links are formatted the same way. If one link is underlined and another is bold, some users may have difficulty recognizing them.
• Avoid using all capital letters in hyperlink text. This can hinder readers with visual impairments. 

Are you a CIRA Website Member wanting more information about adding hyperlinks to your website? See the CIRA Web Training Resource Hub. Reach out to CIRA for website credentials.

What you need to do

• Update Document Links: When linking to PDFs and other documents, make sure the file type is clearly indicated. Example: “Download the report (PDF).”
• Add Alternative Text to Meaningful Images: Alt text is a short, descriptive phrase that helps blind and visually impaired people understand what an image conveys.

For more information about accessibility best practices, watch Kris Rivenburgh’s webinar on the TAC YouTube channel.