PDF accessibility for California public agencies.

Q: Does AB 434 apply to cities and counties?

No. AB 434 requires California state agencies and entities to certify every two years that their websites meet WCAG 2.0 AA or later. Cities, counties and special districts are covered by ADA Title II, and by Government Code 11135 where they receive state funding.

California cities, counties and special districts must make the PDFs on their websites meet WCAG 2.1 AA under ADA Title II, by April 26, 2027 or April 26, 2028 depending on size. California law adds its own layer on top.

The rules that apply

ADA Title II: the federal deadline

The Department of Justice's Title II rule requires state and local government web content, documents included, to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Cities and counties serving 50,000 people or more must comply by April 26, 2027. Smaller ones, and every special district, have until April 26, 2028. Details on the ADA Title II deadline page.

Government Code 11135

Section 11135 bars disability discrimination in any program or activity that is run or funded by the state, and it sets California's protections at least as high as the ADA's. For most local agencies that receive state money, inaccessible documents are a state-law problem as well as a federal one.

AB 434: state agencies only

AB 434 (2017) requires California state agencies to post a signed certification every two years that their websites meet WCAG 2.0 AA or later. It does not apply to cities, counties or special districts, although many use it as a model. ¹

Meeting documents come first

The Brown Act requires regular meeting agendas to be posted at least 72 hours in advance. Once the Title II deadline passes, those agendas and their packets have to be accessible when they're posted, not weeks later. For most California agencies, that's the largest recurring stream of PDFs by far. See accessible meeting agendas.

What other California agencies are doing

In September 2026 we checked the websites of every California city and county, 540 in all, for an automated PDF accessibility service. 252 of the 536 we could check, or 47%, had DocAccess installed. Automated HTML versions have become the most common approach in the state, because manual remediation at $5 to $15 a page doesn't fit a city clerk's budget.

If you're one of them, compare Paridoc with DocAccess. Paridoc costs $0.30 to $0.45 per page per year and doesn't use residents' browsers to find your documents.

AB-434 State Web accessibility: standard and reports, California Legislative Information.

Questions

Does AB 434 apply to cities and counties?

No. AB 434 requires California state agencies and entities to certify every two years that their websites meet WCAG 2.0 AA or later. Cities, counties and special districts are covered by ADA Title II, and by Government Code 11135 where they receive state funding.

When do California cities and counties have to comply with ADA Title II?

April 26, 2027 for those serving 50,000 people or more; April 26, 2028 for smaller ones and for every special district.

How many California agencies already use an automated PDF service?

In our September 2026 survey of California's 540 cities and counties, 252 of the 536 we could check had DocAccess installed, which is 47%.

Updated September 2026

Send us your website's address and we'll count your PDFs and send you a price: paridoc@efile.systems