ADA Title II Compliance Timeline
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The following timeline outlines the steps your agency must take in order to meet the April 24, 2026 deadline for compliance with ADA Title II.
Timeline
November 2025
- Complete your Content Evaluation
- Identify AT LEAST 80% of documents that can be removed or archived.
- Be sure to follow your agency's record-keeping policies before removing electronic content.
- Complete Accessibility Training
December 2025
- Identify all transactional documents and plan to remediate them as your first/highest priority.
- Plan staffing and resources for PDF remediation.
- Review the example staffing matrix to understand the resources your agency might need to remediate its electronic documents.
- Request and complete training from the DoIT Office of Accessibility (OOA) or Maryland Department of Disability (MDoD) on how to remediate complex PDFs.
- Start remediating your transactional and highest priority documents.
- PDFs are a high priority for remediation. Review the guidelines for PDFs.
- Work with your Agency’s attorney general to determine if any content is exempt from ADA Title II, and the best implementation plan for your agency.
January to March 2026
Complete all remaining electronic document remediation in this period to ensure your agency meets the April 24th deadline.
- Remediate all transactional documents.
- Remediate all other electronic documents that will remain on the site (those that will not be moved into the archive area of your site).
- Continue remediating all electronic documents until they are all accessible.
April 24th, 2026, and Beyond
- No new bad.
- Do not upload any new inaccessible documents to your website.
- Documents sent to DoIT Web Services for posting on your website must be accessible.
- Continue to remediate current conventional documents until at least 97% are made accessible, where possible.
- Make sure all new staff who will create electronic documents receive accessibility training on creating accessible electronic documents.
Example Staffing Matrix
The following table helps identify when additional staffing is needed to support electronic document remediation. Note: Contact DoIT if your agency needs support sourcing accessibility specialists.
# of Electronic Documents Needing Remediation | Recommended Primary Action | Recommended Secondary Action |
|---|---|---|
1-50 electronic documents | Manual remediation by internal accessibility-trained staff | N/A |
50-200 electronic documents | Manual remediation by a small group of internal accessibility-trained staff | Consider the hiring of a document accessibility specialist (contractual) for 90 days. |
201-500 electronic documents | Hiring a contractual document accessibility specialist to complete the document remediation effort. | Manual remediation by a larger group of internal accessibility-trained staff |
500+ electronic documents | Hiring a contractual document accessibility specialist to complete the document remediation effort. | Manual remediation by a larger group of internal accessibility-trained staff |
WCAG 2.1, Level AA Guidelines for PDFs
To comply with ADA Title II, electronic documents must meet the technical standards of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA.
PDF remediation is a high priority for the State of Maryland.
- PDF content must be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.
- PDFs must use tags properly, have logical heading structure and logical reading order, and use alternative text for non-text content.
- PDFs also must support keyboard navigation, have sufficient color contrast, use accessible forms, and well-structured tables.
- Explore specific WCAG 2.1 techniques for PDFs
Resources
- State of Maryland Accessibility Guidelines.
- State of Maryland Plain Language Standards.
- Learn from members of the Plain Language Community of Practice (Google Chat).
Get accessibility training and support
Explore training and support on how to create accessible documents and webpages.