Arkansas: nonvisual access in every state-funded IT contract

The subchapter covers the state and every state-assisted organization. The definition of state-assisted organization takes in colleges, nonprofits, persons, political subdivisions, school systems and any other entity supported in whole or in part by state funds. A city or school district on state money is covered, as is the vendor contract it signs.

The head of each covered entity must make sure the IT used by employees, program participants and the public gives blind and visually impaired people interactive access equivalent to others, and presents information for both visual and nonvisual use. The Division of Information Systems writes a technology access clause and nonvisual access standards, and the clause goes into all IT contracts by or for covered entities from 30 July 1999.

The standards follow the old Section 508 provisions for software (36 CFR 1194.21) and for web content (36 CFR 1194.22), frozen as they existed on 1 January 2019. Those are the pre-refresh federal rules, so an Arkansas contract can cite a different benchmark from the WCAG 2.0 that Section 508 uses today. A product may still be bought if the information it handles is inherently visual and cannot be conveyed nonvisually.

Unusually for a state IT statute, this one gives a private remedy. A person injured by a violation may bring an action for injunctive relief to enforce the subchapter, within four years. For a continuing violation, the clock starts at the latest violation. The statute gives no damages figure.

State law here adds to federal law; it does not replace it. Every city, county, school district and special district in Arkansas is bound by the federal Title II web rule, 28 CFR 35.200, which requires WCAG 2.1 Level AA on web content and mobile apps: from April 26, 2027 for public entities of 50,000 people or more, and from April 26, 2028 for smaller entities and special districts. State agencies are bound by the same rule at the earlier date.

Private businesses open to the public answer to ADA Title III. A private plaintiff can sue for an injunction and ask for attorney's fees; the Department of Justice can sue for damages and civil penalties. No federal regulation names a web standard for businesses, so audits use WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 Level AA as the working benchmark.

Vendors: a conformance report for Arkansas has to answer the old 1194.21 and 1194.22 provisions the statute names. Keep a WCAG 2.1 AA report alongside it, because public buyers in Arkansas are also bound by the federal Title II rule, and the clause is in the contract whether or not anyone asks for the report.