ADA Title II PDF compliance for Arizona cities and counties
The U.S. Department of Justice's Title II web rule applies to every state and local government in Arizona: cities, towns, counties, school districts and special districts. Web content, including the agenda packets, minutes, forms and permits you post as PDFs, must meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
Arizona compliance deadlines
| Your entity | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Arizona cities and counties with a 2020 Census population of 50,000 or more | April 26, 2027 |
| Arizona cities, towns and counties under 50,000 | April 26, 2028 |
| Special district governments (water, transit, utility, park districts and similar) | April 26, 2028 |
Dates as extended by the DOJ interim final rule of April 2026 and listed on ADA.gov. Population is the entity's Census population, not the number of residents served or staff.
Which Arizona PDFs to fix first
- Council, board and commission agendas and packets posted every week. New ones are not covered by the preexisting-document exception.
- Applications, permits, licenses and fee schedules residents use to access services.
- Budgets, ordinances and notices currently in use.
- Older archived minutes can often wait if they meet the archive or preexisting-document exception. Check the rule text with your attorney.
What "accessible PDF" means in practice
Tags a screen reader can follow, correct reading order, a document title and language, alt text for images, real table headers, and OCR for scanned pages. We validate every file with veraPDF against PDF/UA-1 and list the items a person must still confirm. See how to make government PDFs accessible.
How ClearPage helps
- Free: one PDF (up to 25 pages) remediated, with before-and-after veraPDF PDF/UA-1 reports.
- $149: 10 documents, up to 25 pages each.
- $1,500: full-site PDF audit and ranked fix plan (up to 1,000 files).
- $750/mo: ongoing remediation of new and changed PDFs within 48 hours, up to 300 pages a month.
FAQ
When must Arizona cities comply with the ADA Title II web rule?
A Arizona city or county with a 2020 Census population of 50,000 or more must comply by April 26, 2027. Entities under 50,000 and all special district governments have until April 26, 2028.
Do PDFs count?
Yes. PDFs and other conventional electronic documents posted on your website are web content under the rule and must meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA, unless an exception (such as the preexisting-document exception for documents not currently used to access services) applies.
Is a smaller department judged by its own size?
No. A department uses the population of the city, county or state it belongs to, per ADA.gov guidance.
Sources
- ADA.gov: First Steps Toward Complying with the Title II Web Rule (compliance dates as extended in April 2026)
- DOJ interim final rule, Apr. 20, 2026
- 28 CFR part 35, subpart H
Last reviewed 2026-10-20.