ADA Readiness in ClearGov Products

The U.S. Department of Justice has issued updated regulations under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), mandating strict web and digital accessibility standards. The compliance deadlines are set for April 26, 2027, for public entities with populations of 50,000 or more, and April 26, 2028, for smaller entities and special districts. Because your agency relies on third-party software for financial disclosures, the ultimate legal responsibility for ADA compliance rests with your municipality, not your vendors. However, ClearGov provides the readymade tools to help you seamlessly build ADA readiness into your financial reporting. 

Let’s dive into how ClearGov equips your finance team to produce ADA-ready documents:

Disclosure Studio gives you the tools to make your financial disclosure ADA ready by building accessibility directly into the product's functionality. For example, the report settings prevent the selection of branding colors that fail to meet the required accessibility standards. Additionally, font sizes within text blocks cannot be altered. This is an intentional design choice to take the mental load of accessibility off your staff and put it onto the software.

Digital Budget Book includes built-in accessibility features like semantic structure and color contrast controls designed to support WCAG 2.1 AA standards. You can learn more about how Digital Budget Book enables you to create compliant, user-friendly digital financial documents here.  

Our tools are designed to support conformance with web accessibility standards; ADA compliance goes further; it asks whether a person with a disability can actually access and understand the published contents. You must still evaluate how your financial documents function in the real world. To ensure your disclosures meet the ADA’s broader mandate for "effective communication," ask your team the following questions:

• Is the financial content written in plain, understandable language? 

  • Financial reporting can be dense. Using simple writing and specific, nontechnical language helps residents of all reading levels understand the information. 

  • Always explain acronyms or complex financial terms that are necessary to include.

• Are you prepared to provide the document in alternative formats?

  • Even with accessible digital files, you must be prepared to provide alternative formats, such as large print, Braille, or HTML text, if a resident requests them.

• Does the document (or the webpage hosting it) include an accessibility notice? 

  • Your documents and the pages hosting them should include clear, detailed instructions on how users can request accommodations. 

  • If your municipality has an ADA Coordinator or an accessibility office, prominently display their contact information so it is clear who to reach if there is an accessibility issue.

• Can you process accommodation requests in a timely, private, and independent manner? 

  • Ensure you have procedures in place to quickly process requests without causing undue delay or violating the privacy of the requester.

True ADA compliance means a person with a disability can access, understand, and use your services as effectively as anyone else. ClearGov builds accessibility guardrails directly into the platform, so your team spends less time manually checking design decisions like color contrast and layout structure. We do not provide ADA Compliance.  If subscribed, we provide document remediation supporting ADA requirements for the PDF documents your ClearGov product(s) produce. That's where human judgment adds real value.