Accessible PDFs for state and local government

The deadline is not the goal

The ADA Title II deadline - newly extended to April 26, 2027 for entities serving 50,000 or more residents - is the headline, but the goal is simpler: residents should be able to read the documents that affect their lives. A compliant archive is a byproduct of that. This page is for the teams making that happen on a realistic budget and timeline.

What is in scope for public-sector teams

• Public-facing PDFs linked from your site: policies, permits, forms, meeting minutes, notices, school report cards, budgets, contracts.
• PDFs served by transactional portals (e.g. permitting, licensing, benefit applications).
• Scanned records that are currently used for services. Archived records that predate the rule and are not in active use may fall under a narrow exemption.

A programme that fits in a quarter

1. Weeks 1 and 2 - inventory. Crawl the site, export to a spreadsheet, tag each PDF with an owner department. This number will be larger than you expect.
2. Weeks 3 to 6 - bulk remediation. Run documents through an automated pipeline. Group by department; spot-check a random 5 percent. Send anything flagged critical to a human reviewer.
3. Weeks 7 and 8 - publish HTML alternates. The hosted HTML version is usually the better user experience. Link to the tagged PDF for people who need it.
4. Weeks 9 and 10 - procedures and training. Every new PDF published after the deadline must also meet the bar. A one-page checklist and a 20-minute training session for content owners is sufficient for most departments.
5. Week 11 onward - evidence. Keep a register: original score, remediated score, reviewer, date, and the permanent URL for the hosted HTML version. This is what Title II enforcement will ask for.

Procurement notes

Most states already have cooperative purchasing vehicles that cover accessibility services. DocAccessible is available through standard cloud-subscription procurement and through NASPO-style cooperative contracts; custom legal language is welcome and our Team plan includes a signed BAA when PHI is present.

• Self-hosted option: the full stack runs on your infrastructure (Postgres, Valkey, object storage). No source documents leave your network.
• Data residency: US-only regions are available on request.
• Security: SOC 2 Type II in progress, SAML SSO available on the Team plan.

How a 500-document agency uses DocAccessible

A typical workflow for a mid-size public entity: a content administrator uploads the monthly backlog of PDFs in a single batch, the pipeline produces remediated PDFs and hosted HTML pages for all of them, and the communications team reviews the dozen or so documents flagged for manual alt-text tightening. The accessibility score report is exported monthly for the legal team, who keep the evidence register required under Title II.

Frequently asked, government-specific

Do we need to remediate PDFs in foreign languages?

Yes. The language declaration should match the document's content. DocAccessible detects the language from the source and lets a reviewer override it.

What about PDFs on sub-sites we do not control?

If the content appears on a domain you publish, it is in scope even when a vendor manages the sub-site. Bring remediation language into your vendor contracts for anyone publishing on your behalf.

Can a volunteer-maintained site meet the bar?

The standard is the same. Automation exists so that small teams can meet it without dedicated staff. DocAccessible's Free plan covers small town and library use cases out of the box.

Read the full ADA Title II guide for the regulatory detail, or the step-by-step remediation guide for the hands-on process.