On April 24, 2024 the Federal Department of Justice (DOJ) published its
New Rule on the Accessibility of Web Content and Mobile Apps Provided by State and Local Governments. This rule updated the DOJ's regulations for Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The final rule has specific requirements to ensure that web content and mobile applications (apps) are accessible to people with disabilities.
On May 9th, 2024 the Federal Department of Health and Humans Services (HHS) published its new rule on
Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The section of the HHS rule on digital accessibility mirrors the DOJ rule almost exactly.
Both of these rules set a minimum conformance standard of
WCAG (the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) 2.1, Levels A and AA. Each rule also provides a two-year implementation window, starting on the date the rule was published. Thus, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), and the state of Oregon as a whole, must be in compliance with the DOJ rule by April 24th, 2026. OHA must be in compliance with the HHS rule by May 9th, 2026.
The OHA/ODHS Digital Accessibility Policy Workgroup created two policies to guide conformance with the recent federal rules: ODHSOHA 010-029 (Digital Accessibility in Content Creation and Sharing) and ODHSOHA 010-030 (Digital Accessibility in Hardware, Software and Systems). These policies align with WCAG 2.2, Levels A and AA, which became the w3c’s recommended version of WCAG on October 5th, 2023.