News: Colorado OIT Amended Rulemaking (Part 2)

Just a quick note here. About a month ago, we participated in the rulemaking by Colorado's Office of Information Technology (OIT) after they dropped a bombshell by releasing an early draft of their proposed amendments to their accessibility rule. OIT made substantial changes to that rule and the current draft actually looks pretty reasonable.

Fast-forward to earlier this week, when we submitted a second set of written comments. We also attended a second rulemaking hearing today. The public made many great comments. I particularly liked what El Paso County suggested about limiting public disclosure of too much information about specific product remediation efforts. That paints a target on a government's back.

In our comments, we suggested that OIT develop an informal complaint process for handling accessibility complaints. This would help avoid the burdens and costs of litigation. More importantly, it would make programs and services more accessible and more quickly. We also made some suggestions to help align the OIT regulation better with current federal and international digital accessibility regulations. When requirements are harmonized, compliance is much easier and ultimately raises the accessibility bar everywhere.

It's been an honor to participate in Colorado's accessibility rulemaking. Our county and municipal clients (e.g., the City of Centennial) asked us to participate because we have such deep experience on the legal and policy side of digital accessibility. We've also worked extensively with other governments (e.g. the government of Canada) in developing accessibility standards that align with the best practices from governments and regulatory bodies in the U.S., European Union, and elsewhere.