Is Boulder County's Website Ready for the ADA Title II Deadline?
Did you know the deadline already changed?
Here's something many local officials missed: the original compliance deadline has already moved once. On April 20, 2026, the Department of Justice issued an Interim Final Rule pushing each deadline back a full year — which means Boulder County's date is now April 26, 2027. A one-time extension is a grace period, not a reprieve. There is no indication another one is coming.
Has Boulder County's website been checked yet?
We haven't published an accessibility scan for Boulder County yet. Run one now — we'll crawl the site, test every page against WCAG 2.1 Level AA, score reading level, inventory PDFs, and flag any citizen service that residents with disabilities can't reach.
What WCAG 2.1 Level AA means for county government websites
Because Boulder County serves 330,262 residents — above the DOJ's 50,000-person threshold — it falls in the first enforcement wave, with the earlier of the two federal deadlines.
The rule points to WCAG 2.1 Level AA — a widely used technical checklist. Stripped of jargon, it asks simple questions: can a blind resident using a screen reader pay a bill on your site? Can someone who can't use a mouse complete a form with just a keyboard? Is the text readable against its background?
For first-wave entities, the practical risk isn't only DOJ action — it's private lawsuits and demand letters that cite the federal standard the moment the deadline passes.
Boulder County is a major population center, and its website is the front door for public health services, permits, and assessor records. Under ADA Title II, that front door has to work for every resident.
Don't find out about problems from a demand letter
A11yCheck monitors Boulder County's website continuously and sends a plain-English weekly digest — no technical background needed.