The 2027 Government Website Compliance Checklist
Twelve plain-English things every city, county, and special-district website needs before the ADA deadline, what each one means, and how to know where you actually stand.
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Twenty minutes with Aaron, no pitch. Bring the checklist and we will tell you what is genuinely urgent and what can wait, even if the answer is "you are fine, do nothing yet."
Book a call with Aaron Or grade my site automatically firstDoes your site meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA?
This is the actual legal standard, a specific set of technical rules, not a vibe. If no one on your team can say "yes" with certainty, that gap is your starting point.
Can someone use every page with only a keyboard?
Many residents cannot use a mouse. If menus, forms, and links do not work by keyboard alone, large parts of your site are effectively closed to them.
Do all meaningful images have descriptive alt text?
Screen readers rely on alt text to describe images. Missing or lazy alt text ("image1.jpg") is one of the most common, and most cited, violations.
Are your PDFs accessible, or a hidden liability?
Agendas, minutes, budgets, and forms are usually PDFs, and most scanned or exported PDFs are unreadable to assistive tech. This is where governments get caught.
Is your color contrast readable for low-vision users?
Light-gray text and pale buttons fail contrast requirements. It is easy to fix once you know, and easy to miss until someone complains.
Are your online forms usable with a screen reader?
Permit applications, contact forms, and payments must have properly labeled fields, or residents using assistive tech simply cannot complete them.
Do your videos and audio have captions and transcripts?
Council meetings, announcements, and explainer videos need captions, and ideally transcripts, to be accessible and to be legally defensible.
Do you have a published accessibility statement and a way to report problems?
A visible statement plus a feedback channel shows good-faith effort, and is often the first thing an investigator or plaintiff’s attorney looks for.
Is it clear who owns accessibility internally?
Unclear ownership is the number-one root cause we see. When accessibility is "everyone’s job," it is no one’s, and it quietly drifts out of compliance.
Do you have a remediation plan on record?
If challenged, "we are actively working on it, here is our plan and timeline" is a far stronger position than silence. Documentation is protection.
Is your CMS or vendor keeping you compliant, or exposing you?
Many platforms and templates generate inaccessible code by default. "We have a website vendor" is not the same as "we are compliant."
Do you know your deadline, and how many months of runway remain?
Remediation and redesigns take time to budget, procure, and build. Working backward from April 2027 or 2028, the honest question is: is there enough runway left?