SEO and content marketing specialist who started working in the field in 2011. I love all things content, search engines, web accessibility, design, tech, and AI.
Ahead of the Title II deadline, every page a scan flags needs a name attached to it.
The Department of Justice’s April 2026 rule gives state and local governments serving 50,000 or more people until April 26, 2027 to bring their web content to WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Smaller entities and special districts have until April 26, 2028.
The extra year changes only the dates. PRISM’s summary notes that no other requirements in the rule have changed, and the Department’s Federal Register notice says the year gives public entities time to “engage in appropriate processes” for accessibility. Build that process now, because a deadline is the wrong reason to start.
Assign each fix in two steps. First, sort the issue by type. Content problems go to the page’s author, visual and template problems to a designer, and code problems to a developer; recurring problems go to whoever owns the process that creates them. Then route it to the named person who already edits that page, in their team’s queue.
Summary
- Assigning fixes requires two steps: sorting the issue by type, then routing it to the specific person who already edits that page.
- CMS fields like WordPress’s author field or Drupal’s “Authored by” field can be joined to scan flagged URLs to build an owner map, but broken records (departed owners, multiple editors, unclaimed pages) need predefined rules for reassignment.
- Tickets pushed into task trackers should include the page URL, the failing element, a plain-language fix, and a named assignee so owners don’t need to consult the scanner.
- Splitting remediation into per-department queues, each with a named lead and its own open-issue count, keeps a slow unit from delaying other teams’ fixes.
- Monthly reviews are needed to repair the owner map as staff depart or reorganize.
The issue type decides who fixes it
One untagged PDF is the author’s fix. A fresh untagged PDF every week traces back to the upload workflow and to the person who owns that process. Missing alt text and vague link wording follow the same split: the author corrects the page, and the process owner corrects whatever keeps producing the error. Send authors our notes on fixing an untagged PDF with the ticket.
Shared templates belong to the central team, whose designer and developer fix each fault once for every page that uses it. Inside a template, split the work again. Designers own visual decisions such as color contrast between text and background. Developers own the markup and scripts behind them.
Tag every issue category in your audit as content, design, code, or process before you assign anyone.
Who owns the page when the author has left?
Your CMS already records the owner in the author field, the section permissions, and the revision history. Send each fix to that person, and send them only that page’s issues.
WordPress stores an author and a revision log for every page, and Drupal records an “Authored by” user on each node. Join those fields to the URLs your scan flags. An author who gets only their own pages’ issues already knows what each page is for.
Decide in advance how to handle the broken records:
- The owner has left: Route the fix to their successor and update the author field, so the next scan lands correctly.
- Several people edit the page: Assign whoever made the last substantive change in the revision log, since that person knows the current wording best.
- Nobody claims it: Send it to the department whose service the page describes, or archive it with the same review you would use to retire pages during a migration.
Let your task manager carry the fix
Push each page-scoped issue from your scanner into the queue its owner already works from, usually something like Jira, Linear, Asana, or Azure DevOps. Set the assignee from your owner list, and put everything the owner needs inside the ticket, so nobody has to open the scanner to act on it.
| Ticket field | What it holds | What the owner skips |
| Page URL | The exact flagged page | Searching the site for it |
| Element | The failing image, link, or a snippet of its markup | Guessing which item on the page is wrong |
| Plain-language fix | “Add alt text that describes the chart” | Opening the scanner to decode a rule number |
| Assignee | The name from your owner list | A triage round in a shared inbox |
A person still decides who owns the page
Add one human check before the integration creates tickets. A rule can match a URL to an author field. It cannot know that the author changed departments last month, or that a broken payment form outranks missing alt text on an archived news post.
Have someone review each batch for owner and priority, then release it into the queue.
Give every unit its own queue
Split remediation into one queue per department or team, each with a named lead and its own open-issue count. The central team manages the handoffs. A slow department then delays only its own pages, and the monthly review shows each unit’s open count side by side.
Build it in the tools you already run. Create one Jira board or DevOps area path per business unit, name a lead for each, and review open-issue counts per unit every month.
Write down the handoff rules between queues:
| Who | Trigger | What they do |
| Unit lead | An issue lands in the unit’s queue | Owns the fix window and assigns the page owner |
| Central team | A fix window is missed | Raises the overdue issue with that unit’s lead at the monthly review |
| Process owner | Two missed reviews in a row | Treats it as a broken workflow and decides whether to retrain, reassign, or retire pages |
Every departure and reorg breaks a row in your owner list, so use the monthly review to repair it: when a ticket bounces back from someone who’s left or changed roles, update the author field in the CMS before you reassign, and next month’s scan lands on the right desk.
Frequently asked questions
How do you decide who fixes a flagged accessibility issue?
Sort the issue by type first. Content problems go to the page’s author, visual and template problems go to a designer, and code problems go to a developer. Recurring problems go to whoever owns the process that creates them. Then route the ticket to the named person who already edits that page.
What is the deadline for state and local government website accessibility?
The Department of Justice’s April 2026 rule requires state and local governments serving 50,000 or more people to reach WCAG 2.1 Level AA by April 26, 2027. Smaller entities and special districts have until April 26, 2028.
What information should an accessibility remediation ticket include for the owner?
A ticket should carry the flagged page URL, the failing element or markup snippet, a plain-language fix description, and the assignee’s name from the owner list.
Why should each department have its own accessibility remediation queue?
Splitting remediation into one queue per department, each with a named lead and its own open-issue count, means a slow department only delays its own pages. The central team manages handoffs, and a monthly review compares each unit’s open counts side by side to catch overdue issues early.
References
- Extension of compliance dates for nondiscrimination on the basis of disability; accessibility of web information and services of state and local government entities. (2026, April 20). Federal Register. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/04/20/2026-07663/extension-of-compliance-dates-for-nondiscrimination-on-the-basis-of-disability-accessibility-of-web
- U.S. Department of Justice. (2026, April 17). DOJ extends digital accessibility compliance deadlines for state and local governments. Prism. https://www.prismrisk.gov/about-prism/news/doj-extends-digital-accessibility-compliance-deadlines-for-state-and-local-governments/
