Businesses that sell information technology products to local governments or public education entities in Virginia must provide documentation showing that their product meets WCAG 2.0 AA.

Local governments and public education entities in Virginia must purchase information technology products that meet WCAG 2.0 AA and provide contact information for their designated accessibility coordinator.

What Changed In the Virginia Information Technology Access Act in 2025

In 2025, the Virginia General Assembly passed modernization updates to the Virginia Information Technology Access Act. The changes expanded the scope to any technology that is “acquired, or developed in-house.” The purposes of the technology were expanded to include “display” and the audience for technology was expanded to include “students”. The new full scope of VITAA applies to:

“technology purchased in whole or in part with funds provided by the Commonwealth, acquired, or developed in-house by a covered entity to be used for the creation, storage, retrieval, display, or dissemination of information and intended for use by employees, program participants, students, and members of the general public.”

Covered entities now include all of the following:

all state agencies
public school divisions
public institutions of higher education
political subdivisions of the Commonwealth

Virginia tied their technical standard for VITAA to the federal Section 508 standard, which is currently WCAG 2.0AA. The compliance deadline for municipalities with 50,000 or more residents, public higher education institutions, and state public bodies was April 24, 2026. For municipalities with less than 50,000 residents, their compliance deadline is April 26, 2027.

What Businesses Need to Do to Comply with VITA

Vendors are required to provide an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) or Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) showing how their product conforms to WCAG 2.0 AA. These reports, and any necessary remediation, is paid for by the vendor. If their product does not conform to WCAG 2.0AA, the vendor must provide a timeline for bringing their product into conformance.

What Local Governments and Public Education Institutions Need to Do to Comply with VITAA

Covered entities are required to procure accessible technology and collect ACRs or VPATs from technology providers. Covered entities are required to report non-conforming technology to the state each year.

Additionally, each entity is required to have a designated a “digital accessibility coordinator” to “develop procedures to review and respond to reports of barriers to digital accessibility.” This person’s contact information is required to be made available on the entity’s website. This is frequently included in an accessibility statement.

Enforcement and Penalties

The VITAA does not include any information about enforcement or penalties for non-compliance. Presumably, as with other accessibility laws, individuals or organizations on behalf of a group of individuals could file a lawsuit if they are not able to participate in a program or take advantage of a service because the covered entity is using non-accessible technology.

VITAA and Federal Title II Regulations

While VITAA only requires conformance with WCAG 2.0 AA, federal regulations for Title II entities (the same entities covered by VITAA) require conformance with WCAG 2.1 AA starting in April 2027. By April 2028, VITAA will effectively be superseded by federal Title II regulations. Businesses working to make and certify their products as WCAG-conformant should focus on WCAG 2.1 instead of WCAG 2.0.

Conclusion

Many local governments and public education entities in Virginia should already be procuring accessible information technology to comply with VITAA. However, complying with VITAA is only one step towards complying with federal accessibility regulations that start going into effect in April 2027.