Colorado Rules Establishing Technology Accessibility Standards (Office of Information Technology)

The rules apply to all information and communication technology in active use, whether public-facing or internal-facing, that the public entity provides or makes available directly or through contractual, licensing, or other arrangements. A public entity under the rules is any state or local government, or any department, agency, special district, or other instrumentality of a state or local government.

Digital content is any information and communication technology created, shared, or accessed through digital platforms, including electronic documents, websites, mobile applications, and online services. For digital content, the technical standard is the applicable and achievable success criteria of the W3C WCAG 2.1 conformance levels A and AA, as published on September 21, 2023.

For information and communication technology with closed functionality, the technical standard requires that the product interoperate with assistive technology, provide documentation on accessibility features and user control over them, and conform with the applicable and achievable success criteria of WCAG 2.1 Level A and Level AA.

For hardware, the technical standard is the applicable and achievable requirements of Chapter 4 of the Section 508 Information and Communication Technology Standards and Guidelines.

A public entity makes its information and communication technology accessible by meeting the technical standards, using a conforming alternate version, providing reasonable modifications or accommodations when requested, publishing an accessibility plan that shows good faith progress, or procuring the technology that best meets the technical standards and its business needs.

A public entity providing a reasonable modification or accommodation cannot require an individual with a disability to pay for the measures needed to provide that individual with nondiscriminatory treatment. A public entity must develop and publicly post a technology accessibility statement that tells individuals with disabilities how to request reasonable accommodations or modifications and how to report inaccessible information and communication technology.

Where a public entity complies by meeting the technical standards, content posted by a third party is excepted unless the third party posts it under contractual, licensing, or other arrangements with the public entity.

The other exceptions cover individualized, password-protected or otherwise secured conventional electronic documents about a specific individual, social media posts made before July 1, 2024, and conventional electronic documents last updated before July 1, 2024 that are not currently used to apply for or take part in the entity's services or by employees to perform their job duties.

An exception relieves the public entity only of the technical standards, and the entity must still meet another compliance option unless doing so would be an undue hardship, undue burden, fundamental alteration, or direct threat. For public-facing technology, a decision that compliance would be an undue burden or a fundamental alteration must be made by the head of the public entity or a designee after considering all available resources, with a written statement of the reasons.

The rules apply to technology in active use on or after July 1, 2024 and to technology newly created, developed, acquired, altered, updated, or purchased on or after July 1, 2024.

For the delivery of educational programming, extracurricular activities, and related services directly to students in public schools serving kindergarten through grade 12, the rules create no new obligation beyond those under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Exceptional Children's Education Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, or other applicable law, but those entities must comply with the rules for all other purposes not involving direct services to students.

A public entity is not required to meet the compliance requirements where doing so would result in an undue hardship, undue burden, fundamental alteration, or direct threat. The rules took effect on April 14, 2024, and the current text took effect on June 30, 2025.