IITAA Updates

The Illinois Information Technology Accessibility Act (IITAA) required the State to convene a workgroup to develop and publish standards no more 6 months after the effective date of the Act. The Act also requires the State to review the standards at least once every three years to determine whether updates are needed to keep up with changes in technology. The following is a brief history of these activities:

In 2002, Adminstrative Order Number 1 (2002) established the "Illinois Web Accessibility Standards" (IWAS) for State websites, intranets, and web-based applications. These standards combined the original Section 508 requirements with the WCAG 1.0 "Priority 1" checkpoints and ultimately served as the basis for the IITAA.

After the enactment of the IITAA in 2007, the State of Illinois worked with a broad range of experts and stakeholders to establish the initial IITAA Standards based on the original Section 508 Standards and World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0. For details about the process, see IITAA Workgroup 2008.

The State completed its first review of the IITAA Standards in 2011, concluding that they should be "harmonized" (aligned) with WCAG 2.0 and the proposed revisions to Federal Section 508 Standards, as soon as those revisions were complete. See IITAA Update 2011.

In 2014, the revisions to the Federal Section 508 Standards were still not complete, and the IITAA workgroup opted to continue with its 2011 recommendation to harmonize with the revised Section 508 Standards as soon as they were complete.

On January 9, 2017, the U.S. Access Board released the final rule updating the Section 508 Standards and harmonizing them with WCAG 2.0, with an effective date of January 18, 2018. In accordance with the IITAA workgroup's recommendation, the State immediately began the process of updating the IITAA Standards to match.

On July 18, 2017, the State published updated standards that harmonized Illinois' requirements with the revised Federal Section 508 Standards and the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. Following the 2011 recommendation, the Workgroup also developed a set of "Techniques" to provide easy-to-understand instructions on how to meet IITAA Standards. The updated IITAA Standards and Techniques are available at:

• IITAA 2.0 Standards
• IITAA 2.0 Techniques

In accordance with the Act, and in alignment with the revised Section 508 Standards, the updated IITAA Standards apply to information technology developed, procured, or substantially modified since January 18, 2018.

For more information about the workgroup's efforts, see IITAA Update 2017

The State held an IITAA Standards Review Teleconference on Thursday, November 19, 2020, and the workgroup recommended keeping the IITAA 2.0 Standards aligned with Section 508 and WCAG 2.0, while encouraging compliance with WCAG 2.1 when possible.

The IITAA Standards Workgroup met on November 14, 2023. At the time the meeting, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) had announced a proposed rule that would require States to ensure web and mobile accessibility under ADA Title II. However, the DOJ was still in the process of determining whether the specific requirement would be WCAG 2.1 or 2.2.

The Workgroup decided to keep the IITAA harmonized with Section 508 referencing WCAG 2.0 until the Department of Justice finalized its rule, at which time the State would update the IITAA Standards to follow suit.  

The Department of Justice published the rule Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability; Accessibility of Web Information and Services of State and Local Government Entities on April 24, 2024 with an effective date of June 24, 2024. Based on the recommendation of the IITAA Standards Workgroup in November 2023, the State published updated IITAA Standards with references to WCAG 2.1 on April 24, 2024, also with an effective date of June 24, 2024: 

• IITAA 2.1 Standards