H.R. 3417 — Websites and Software Applications Accessibility Act of 2025

This section establishes additional congressional findings affirming that the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) applies to websites and mobile applications of covered entities—including under Title I (employment), Title II (public entities), and Title III (public accommodations)—regardless of any physical location. (As background, the ADA prohibits disability discrimination by employers with 15 or more employees, state and local governments, and private entities operating public accommodations such as stores, restaurants, and theaters.) The findings recognize Department of Justice regulations on accessibility technologies (e.g., video remote interpreting, captioning, screen readers); note the digital economy's scale (nearly 10% of U.S. gross domestic product, with 85% of U.S. adults online daily); identify persistent access barriers; and reject court rulings limiting Title III coverage to physical places or website-physical place nexus. It further declares purposes to require such websites and applications to be accessible to individuals with disabilities; direct the Department of Justice and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to set and enforce standards for websites, electronic documents, and software applications (with periodic updates); remedy systemic inaccessibility; and address emerging technologies.

This section defines terms used in the Act, including (1) "accessible" (i.e., perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust web content or applications enabling individuals with disabilities to access information, engage in interactions, conduct transactions, communicate, and enjoy services with the same privacy, independence, and ease as individuals without disabilities); (2) "covered entity" (i.e., employment entity, public entity, public accommodation, or testing entity); (3) "covered use" (i.e., use by such entities in employment decisions or procedures, public services or programs under the ADA or related laws, or goods, services, or accommodations offered to the public); (4) "employment entity" (i.e., employer, employment agency, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee); (5) "information and communication technology" (i.e., equipment or systems for electronic data acquisition, storage, processing, transmission, or display, including software, applications, web content, and electronic documents); and (6) "joint labor-management committee" (i.e., a labor-management committee established under 29 U.S.C. 175a—authorizing Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service assistance for committees to improve labor-management relations, job security, and economic development—and engaged in commerce).

This section prohibits employment entities, public entities, public accommodations, and testing entities from discriminating against individuals with disabilities through web content or applications owned, operated, or utilized for covered use, mirroring the anti-discrimination rules of ADA Titles I (employment, 42 U.S.C. 12112), II (state and local governments), and III (public accommodations). It requires such covered entities to ensure web content and applications are accessible and that communications with individuals with disabilities via such content and applications are as effective as with others. The section further prohibits commercial providers from designing, developing, or providing inaccessible web content or applications to covered entities for covered use and applies undue burden and fundamental alteration defenses to claims against all such entities.

This section directs the Attorney General to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), within 12 months of enactment, on web content and application accessibility standards for public entities (i.e., state and local governments under ADA Title II), public accommodations (i.e., private businesses open to the public under ADA Title III), testing entities, and their commercial providers; and a final rule within 24 months that accounts for small entity capabilities, effective 3 years after issuance for small entities and 30 days after for others. Not later than 6 months after final rule issuance, the Attorney General must publicly post enforcement settlement and resolution documents on the Department of Justice website, to the extent permitted by law. This section similarly directs the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to issue an NPRM, within 12 months of enactment, and final rule within 24 months on such standards for employment entities (i.e., employers under ADA Title I) and their commercial providers, effective 2 years after issuance for small entities and 30 days after for others; and, not later than 6 months after final rule issuance, publicly post enforcement documents on the Commission website, to the extent permitted by law.

This section requires each federal agency receiving complaints or engaging in enforcement, administrative, or civil actions under the Act to submit reports on those activities to the Department and the Commission for the first three years after enactment and every two years thereafter. The Attorney General and the Commission must review those submissions over the same periods to assess whether the Act's purpose is being achieved—including by awarding grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements to experienced entities for data collection and analysis—and submit a report on the results to the Senate Committees on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Judiciary and the House Committees on Education and Workforce and the Judiciary. The section further directs the Attorney General and the Commission to issue updated accessibility regulations every three years following the initial regulations under the Act.

This section establishes enforcement mechanisms under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for violations of section 4 web content and application accessibility requirements (including related final rules under section 5). Specifically, for non-employment covered entities, public accommodations, and testing entities, it authorizes the Attorney General to investigate complaints or initiate reviews, determine violations, pursue administrative actions or civil suits in federal district court, and allows complainants to intervene or file private suits in state or federal court without exhausting remedies. For employment entities, it provides parallel authority to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to investigate complaints or conduct reviews, determine violations, take administrative or civil action, and allows private suits without exhaustion, with the Attorney General performing specified EEOC functions. It authorizes civil penalties and injunctive relief in such actions to achieve compliance.

This section establishes a standing advisory committee on accessible web content and applications, to be operated under the Federal Advisory Committee Act as an advisory body to the Attorney General and the Commission. The committee must include a majority of members who are individuals with disabilities (i.e., who are blind or have low vision, deaf, hard of hearing, or deafblind; who have speech disabilities; who have physical disabilities including limited manual dexterity; or who have other disabilities), along with experts on accessible web content and applications and at least one representative from the United States Access Board; it may also include representatives from state and local governments, covered entities (including small entities), commercial providers, testing entities, and others deemed appropriate. The committee must (1) hold public meetings at least twice per year, (2) submit reports and recommendations to the Attorney General and Commission (and make them publicly available) at least every two years, and (3) assist those agencies in identifying the impact of innovations on accessible web content and applications. This section also requires the Attorney General and Commission, in implementing the Act, to confer with the National Council on Disability, the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, or other relevant federal entities.

This section establishes a technical assistance center to provide covered entities, commercial providers, individuals with disabilities, and the public with information, resources, training, and technical assistance on designing, developing, constructing, altering, or procuring accessible web content and applications in accordance with the ADA and this Act. From amounts made available under section 13, the provision directs the Attorney General, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission, Secretary of Education, U.S. Access Board, and other agency heads as appropriate, to award competitively at least one grant, contract, or cooperative agreement to a qualified provider. Award decisions must consider input from specified individuals with disabilities (i.e., those who are blind or low-vision, deaf, hard-of-hearing, deafblind, with speech disabilities, physical disabilities including limited manual dexterity, or other disabilities), experts on accessible web content, and the Access Board; input from state/local governments, covered entities, commercial providers, testing entities, and others may also be considered. Authorized activities include responding to information requests on effective approaches and model policies; facilitating information sharing, expert convenings, best practices dissemination, and cost-reduction efforts via technologies such as online discussions and video conferencing; and collaborating with disability organizations, centers for independent living (i.e., consumer-controlled, community-based agencies providing independent living services to individuals with significant disabilities, as defined in 29 U.S.C. 796a), standards bodies such as the World Wide Web Consortium and National Institute of Standards and Technology, the ADA National Network, small business assistance agencies, and disability rights enforcement experts.

This section directs the National Council on Disability (NCD) to conduct a study and prepare a report on (1) the effect of emerging technologies on individuals with disabilities' participation in employment, education, government, health care, commerce, culture, and other aspects of society; and (2) the effectiveness of this Act in achieving its purpose. In conducting the study, the NCD must consider impacts on individuals with disabilities facing particular barriers, including those with limited language or English proficiency; significant or targeted disabilities (e.g., blind, deaf, or deafblind); communication-limiting disabilities; household income at or below 200% of the federal poverty line; lack of broadband access; or multiple marginalizations due to race, ethnicity, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or socioeconomic status. The NCD must submit the report to the Senate Committees on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Judiciary and the House Committees on Education and Workforce and the Judiciary five years after enactment.

This section establishes a grant program to assist small entities in remediating or replacing existing inaccessible web content and applications to comply with regulations under the Act. From amounts made available under section 13, for each of the first five years after the date of issuance (i.e., the earlier of the final rule under section 5(a) or section 5(b)), the technical assistance center designated under section 9, in coordination with the Attorney General and the Commission, shall award grants of up to $10,000 to eligible small entities (i.e., covered entities or commercial providers demonstrating inaccessible content requiring remediation or replacement, plus a compliance plan). Grant recipients may use funds to audit, test, or remediate inaccessible content or procure accessible replacements (directly or via subgrant) and must demonstrate the resulting content's accessibility but may not use funds for inaccessible content.

This section establishes rules of construction for the Act. Specifically, it (1) states that the Act does not affect obligations under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794), specified ADA titles, section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or specified accessibility laws; (2) provides that the Act does not invalidate or limit remedies, rights, or procedures under other federal or state laws offering equal or greater disability protections; (3) requires the Act's regulations to be consistent with, and no less protective than, specified ADA regulations on digital accessibility and FCC regulations on web-based video programming and communications services; and (4) prohibits the Attorney General or FCC from requiring prior notification to covered entities before civil actions.