🎧 The Local Edge Podcast - Episode 1, 11.26.25: Understanding WCAG 2.1 Level AA: A Guide for Local Government Leaders
Transcript
Introduction
Welcome to The Local Edge, a practical resource designed for local public sector leaders. I'm your host, Mark Grabow, from Local Efficiency Solutions. In each episode, our goal is to provide you with a proven tool, framework, or lessons from real-world case studies that you can leverage to optimize your organization. Let's dive into this week’s episode and help you gain the edge.
About the Host
My name is Mark Grabow, and I operate Local Efficiency Solutions, a company dedicated to optimizing the public sector at the local level. In this inaugural episode, I cover an essential topic that I recently presented to a local government in Oregon: WCAG Level 2.1 requirements for web accessibility.
What Is WCAG and Why Does It Matter?
WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. In this episode, I break down what WCAG is, its relevance to local governments, important deadlines, and a free tool to help manage your progress in upgrading web content accessibility to remain compliant with federal ADA mandates.
The new ADA rule for accessibility, sourced from the Department of Justice, establishes WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the technical standard for web content and mobile applications for state and local governments. This marks a shift from WCAG 2.0, which has been the standard since 2008. According to the Department of Justice, WCAG 2.1 is already widely adopted by public entities and at least ten states at the time of the rule change.
Key Requirements and Exceptions
The primary requirement is that state and local government websites and mobile applications must meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA. However, there are some important exceptions:
Archived web content is generally excluded from compliance requirements.
Pre-existing, conventional electronic documents (like older PDFs) may not need to be updated if making them compliant is not feasible.
Content posted by third parties, when not under contractual or licensing arrangements with the public entity, is not required to be altered by the government.
Individualized documents that are password-protected do not need to meet these requirements.
Preexisting social media posts do not need to be retroactively updated for compliance.
The Importance of Compliance
The push for web accessibility is not just regulatory: there is a notable rise in ADA website accessibility lawsuits. For example, between January 2025 and June 2025, U.S. courts saw 2,014 additional website accessibility lawsuits, representing a 37% increase from the same period in 2024. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce also reports a growing number of such lawsuits, with 3,000 filed in 2022: a 12% increase from the prior year. Clearly, compliance is becoming more important and urgent for local governments.
Deadlines for Compliance
If your state or local government serves fewer than 50,000 people, your compliance deadline is April 26, 2027. This also applies to special districts.
If your population served is 50,000 or more, the deadline is April 24, 2026.
Free Project Management Resource
To assist with compliance, I developed a Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Project Manager Success Criteria Checklist for Level 2.1, Level AA. This resource is available on my website. It is structured in Google Sheets, but you can easily download it as a Microsoft Excel file if your organization uses the Microsoft Suite. Please note that some checklist features may not transfer perfectly, but all the necessary data will be available for you to use and adapt as needed.
The checklist is derived from the full WCAG manual, breaking it down into actionable items to facilitate your website’s accessibility upgrade. The tool covers four main WCAG principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. For each guideline, there are live links for further reading, and columns to track compliance status, assigned tasks, completion dates, and notes. This resource is designed to be practical and easy to use, allowing project managers to track progress efficiently.
Conclusion and Next Steps
This episode covered the essentials of WCAG 2.1 Level AA: what it is, why it matters for local governments, compliance deadlines, and a practical resource you can use. I hope this information is helpful as you work to keep your organization compliant and accessible. If you have questions about the resource, feel free to contact me by email. Please remember, none of this is legal advice: always consult your legal counsel regarding ADA requirements.
Going forward, I will be releasing new podcast episodes weekly for the next four weeks, then biweekly, every second Wednesday. Each episode will feature actionable tools and insights to help you optimize your organization. Thank you for joining me on this first episode of The Local Edge. As one of my former fire chiefs used to say, “Go forth and do good things.” Take care and see you next time.
