Small governments that represent under 50,000 people will be required to update their websites and mobile apps under the Americans with Disabilities Act on April 26, 2027. The new rule, issued by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), requires these governments to adopt a new technical standard to make digital platforms more accessible to people with disabilities.

Advocacy has heard from small governmental jurisdictions that the tradeoffs required to comply with the new rule are burdensome, costing taxpayers far more than the Department of Justice anticipated.

Advocacy’s Janis Reyes, Assistant Chief Counsel for Labor and Immigration, has been working on this issue for almost three years, as noted in a 2023 comment letter to DOJ. On Friday, January 30, 2025, Reyes spoke at the National Association of Secretaries of State Winter Conference held in Washington, D.C. Attendees listened to speakers discuss rule compliance and had the opportunity to share their own experiences.

Advocacy’s authorizing statute covers small governmental entities like the ones impacted by the Department of Justice’s rule. Whenever Advocacy finds a rule that harms small entities, an Assistant Chief Counsel looks for alternatives to mitigate negative impacts.

In this case, Reyes explained, Advocacy’s goal was to buy more time for small governments to comply. Small municipalities might have a year left to comply, unlike larger governments, but the costs are so much more burdensome that any extra time could help them comply.

Transitioning to a new technical standard will be costly. The DOJ estimated that the initial costs for testing and fixing websites would be as much as $100,000 per small city. Worse, the DOJ estimated that the average annual costs would be over $21,000, meaning small cities will have to budget for these changes well into the future.

The cumulative weight of these costs and staff hours can be significant for small municipalities. One small city in California spent $30,000 on software costs and 800 hours of staff time to comply with the rule, a significant burden.  A representative from the Minnesota League of Cities estimated upfront costs for small cities of around $6,000 and $12,000 for tools and training, on top of $1,000 for specialized software licenses.  Their estimate does not include IT staff hours.

There also exist tradeoffs in complying with the heightened standard. In Minnesota, for instance, 750 out of 856 cities are considered small municipalities. All those cities have low revenues, and most of these cities are likely not ADA-compliant. In drafting a comment letter, one representative noted that they would have to choose between complying with the DOJ rule or buying a new fire truck for the volunteer fire department.

The litigation risks to small governments are enormous, but they do not come from the Department of Justice. Instead, as Reyes noted, there are huge civil liability risks for entities that do not comply with the rule.

“It’s not the DOJ that’s going to get you,” Reyes said. “It’s private lawsuits.”

The DOJ rule is a high priority for Assistant Chief Counsel Reyes and the Office of Advocacy, which marked it as a Most Wanted Regulatory reform in December.  Reyes has planned a roundtable for late February to solicit feedback from small governments on compliance costs and burdens for a potential comment letter to the Department of Justice.

Though the rule has been finalized, the Trump Administration’s 10-to-1 executive order has reopened the door to buy small entities time and save more than a billion dollars in compliance costs. Advocacy is committed to pursuing this reform and more like it to help lower costs and help small governments.

AUTHOR:

David Tokarz

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