Legislative Update November 2025: News from Trenton & Washington, DC – Changes in the FCC

by Dave Garb, Legislative Committee Chair

A Recap from the JAG General Meeting on October 29, 2025

Special Section Dedicated to ADA Title II Web and Mobility Access Compliance to WCAG 2.1 Level AA Rules

On October 29th, the Jersey Access Group broke away from our normal general meeting and focused on the ADA requirements that all of us will most likely need to start providing. The following is important information from the meeting:

• Any video on government websites (or anywhere on the web) must have closed captioning, whether it’s VOD or live streaming.
• Videos (except for live streamed) also need audio descriptions.
• This must be accomplished by April 26, 2026, for communities with more than 50,000 residents and by April 26th, 2027, for communities with less than 50,000 residents.

From Mike Wassenaar, President-Alliance for Community Media (ACM)

• Certain rules about communication for state and local governments were a part of the DOJ order that occurred in 2024. The ADA didn’t change, but responsibilities that nonprofits and local governments have to the public is being clarified. This is really more about a quality issue as opposed to a yes or no question.
• Community media must provide effective communication for the community based upon what people who need accommodations need. For example, captioning will not work for someone who is illiterate or for American Sign Language speakers. Captioning alone wouldn’t meet their needs.
• This ruling came up with captioning as sort of a uniform quality standard for video, particularly to be able to meet as many needs as possible in a community.
• There’s a private right of action by individuals under ADA. State or local government can be sued for not actually complying with ADA and not trying to examine the standards. Government entities must make the best effort to figure out how it can provide these services in the community.
• Get accurate competitive quotes to provide those services. Some budget decisions must be made about how to meet (or not meet) those standards. The local unit of government has to make a determination. it’s an undue burden under ADA—regardless of whether or not it is a nonprofit contractor.
• We want to provide services for the entire community, make the best accommodation possible, and where things are uneconomical, state it responsibly. A local government can’t shed its responsibility by subcontracting out services. It is the government entity’s communication regardless of the site it is on—which could be anything from Facebook and YouTube to its own sort of streaming services that may be operating directly on its website.
• The good thing is that there’s no requirement for backwards compatibility prior to the deadline. You don’t have to go through 50 years of programming that you’ve got online, there’s not a legal requirement to caption everything. Moving forward after the deadline you have to have a plan in place.
• If compliance presents an undue burden, local government is responsible for communicating that to the people under ADA.
• If your community has a disability rights commission, start thinking about them as a partner for providing these services. Also, State Human Rights and Disability Rights Commission will often have access to programming grants/awards or they could be your partner in advocating for money from the state specifically for these types of projects.
• Reach out to other colleagues here in New Jersey and across the country, because there are solutions that you can provide for your community as we move forward. There are a lot of people who are really interested in your success.

Mike Wassenaar and the ACM have also shared with us a slideshow ACCESSIBILITY RULES EVERY PEG CHANNEL SHOULD UNDERSTAND highlighting everything you need to know about these rules, as well as the following list of key takeaways to remember about disability access with your channels and services:

• You are probably exempt from FCC rules regarding captioning. ACM is recommending starting next July 1, you should list a point of contact for consumer questions to the FCC.
• If you provide captions, but they are not transmitted by a cable operator on your channels, tell the FCC as this is against the law. Email dro@fcc.org or use the link https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/closed-captioning-television
• You are NOT exempt from ADA requirements. They require all non-profits and local governments to assess the costs of providing effective communication for residents. Solutions must be based on what residents need. You may not be required to provide that service if it fundamentally changes what you do or it presents an undue economic burden. Guidelines are at https://www.ada.gov/resources/effective-communication/.
• Starting April 24, 2026, local governments serving more than 50K people must provide online communications that meet a minimum WCAG standard. This rule applies to all governments starting April 24, 2027. This includes captioning for live video online, and descriptive audio for pre-recorded video online. You should determine the costs for compliance with the new rule and plan either to meet the standards for your online presence or to make the case that compliance with one or more elements presents an undue burden. In either case, decision makers with local government need to be involved.
• Regardless of the Federal Government’s enforcement of the ADA, these rules can be enforced through private legal action; local governments and non-profits would be subject to legal liability if they fail to act appropriately.
• Technology and pricing change; you should be prepared to assess costs for compliance regularly.

If you need more information, contact:

• Bob Duthaler, President, Jersey Access Group bduthaler@jagonline.org
• Mike Wassenaar, President, Alliance for Community Media mwassenaar@allcommunitymedia.org
• David Garb, Legislative Chair, Jersey Access Group davegarb@paps.net