[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3417 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3417
To establish uniform accessibility standards for websites and
applications of employers, employment agencies, labor organizations,
joint labor-management committees, public entities, public
accommodations, testing entities, and commercial providers, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 14, 2025
Mr. Sessions (for himself and Mr. Hoyer) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce, and in
addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish uniform accessibility standards for websites and
applications of employers, employment agencies, labor organizations,
joint labor-management committees, public entities, public
accommodations, testing entities, and commercial providers, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Websites and Software Applications
Accessibility Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) Section 2(b)(1) of the Americans with Disabilities Act
of 1990 (ADA) states that the Act provides ``a clear and
comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of
discrimination against individuals with disabilities'' (42
U.S.C. 12101(b)(1)).
(2) In 1990, websites and applications were essentially
nonexistent, but Congress made clear that the ADA ``should keep
pace with the rapidly changing technology of the times'' (H.R.
Rep. No. 101-485, pt. 2, at 381 (1990), as reprinted in 1990
U.S.C.C.A.N. 303, 391).
(3) Section 102 of the ADA (42 U.S.C. 12112), section 202
of the ADA (42 U.S.C. 12132), and section 302 of the ADA (42
U.S.C. 12182) broadly prohibit discrimination on the basis of
disability in regard to employment; services programs, or
activities of public entities; and of goods, services,
facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any
place of public accommodation, respectively.
(4) The Department of Justice has promulgated regulations
to address the intersection of the ADA and emerging
technologies, including the obligation to ensure effective
communication with and by individuals with disabilities by
using technologies such as video remote interpreting, real-time
computer-aided transcription, open and closed captioning, audio
description, videophones, captioned telephones, screen reader
software, optical readers, and telephone systems that interact
properly with internet-based relay systems.
(5) The Department of Justice has also promulgated
regulations implementing section 202 of the ADA to establish
specific requirements, including the adoption of specific
technical standards, for making accessible the services,
programs, and activities offered by public entities to the
public through the web and mobile applications.
(6) The activities of a vast number of ADA-covered entities
now occur in whole or in part through websites and
applications, a shift that was accelerated by a global
pandemic. The digital economy accounts for nearly 10 percent of
the United States gross domestic product, and 85 percent of
United States adults visit the internet at least once per day.
(7) Despite the ADA's clear language covering all terms,
conditions, and privileges of employment and certain actions of
employers; all services, programs, and activities of public
entities; and all goods, services, facilities, privileges,
advantages, and accommodations of public accommodations,
including when conducted through websites and applications,
most websites and applications of entities covered by the ADA
contain significant barriers for individuals with disabilities.
(8) Consistent with, Congress' intention for the ADA to
keep pace with rapidly changing technology, the Department of
Justice has rightly acknowledged that the ADA requires covered
entities to ensure that their websites and mobile applications
are accessible to individuals with disabilities.
(9) Some courts have misconstrued section 302 of the ADA,
despite the clear language of the ADA's provisions. 10 Some
courts have said Section 302 only covers public accommodations
that are physical places. In addition, some courts have said
that section 302 only covers certain websites of public
accommodations depending on the relationship between the
website and a physical place. Section 302's coverage is not
limited to physical places. Section 302 covers all websites and
applications of public accommodations, regardless of whether
the public accommodation is a physical place or regardless of
the relationship between a website or application and a
physical place.
(10) Without equal access to websites and applications,
many individuals with disabilities are treated as second-class
citizens and are excluded from equal participation in and equal
access to all aspects of society.
(b) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this Act--
(1) to affirm that the ADA and this Act require that
websites and applications used by any covered entity to
communicate or interact with applicants, employees,
participants, customers, or other members of the public be
readily accessible to and useable by individuals with
disabilities, whether the entity has a physical location or is
digital only;
(2) to require the Department of Justice and the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission to set and enforce additional
standards for websites, electronic documents, and software
applications and to periodically update such standards;
(3) to address and remedy the systemic nationwide problem
of inaccessible websites and applications that exclude
individuals with disabilities from equal participation in and
equal access to all aspects of society; and
(4) to create effective mechanisms to respond to emerging
technologies and to ensure that such technologies do not impair
the rights and abilities of individuals with disabilities to
participate in all aspects of society.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Accessible.--The term ``accessible'' or
``accessibility'', used with respect to web content or an
application, means a perceivable, operable, understandable, and
robust web content or an application that enables individuals
with disabilities to access the same information as, to engage
in the same interactions as, to conduct the same transactions
as, to communicate and to be understood as effectively as, and
to enjoy the same services as are offered to, other individuals
with the same privacy, same independence, and same ease of use
as, individuals without disabilities.
(2) Accessibility regulations.--The term ``accessibility
regulations'' means the regulations issued under section 5 in
accordance with this Act.
(3) ADA.--The term ``ADA'' means the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.).
(4) Application.--The term ``application'' means software
that is designed to run on a device, including a smartphone,
tablet, self-service kiosk, wearable technology item, or laptop
or desktop computer or another device, including a device
devised after the date of enactment of this Act, and that is
designed to perform, or to help the user perform, a specific
task.
(5) Commercial provider.--The term ``commercial provider''
means any entity, including a public or private entity--
(A) whose operations affect commerce; and
(B) that designs, develops, constructs, alters,
modifies, or adds an application or web content for a
covered entity (including a covered entity described in
subparagraph (A) that takes such an action for the
covered entity's product) for covered use.
(6) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission.
(7) Covered entity.--The term ``covered entity'' means an
employment entity, public entity, public accommodation, or
testing entity.
(8) Covered use.--The term ``covered use'' means--
(A) use by an employment entity in determining or
conducting job application procedures, hiring,
advancement, or discharge of employees, employee
compensation, job training, or other term, condition,
or privilege of employment, for employees or applicants
to become employees;
(B) use by a public entity to provide to an
applicant, participant, or other member of the public a
service, program, or activity covered under title II of
the ADA (42 U.S.C. 12131 et seq.), section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794), or section
1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
(42 U.S.C. 1811), including information related to such
service, program, or activity; and
(C) use by a public accommodation or testing entity
to provide to customers or other members of the public
a good, service, facility, privilege, advantage, or
accommodation, including information related to such
good, service, facility, privilege, advantage, or
accommodation, regardless of whether the public
accommodation or testing entity owns, operates, or
utilizes a physical location for covered use.
(9) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the
Department of Justice.
(10) Disability.--The term ``disability'' has the meaning
given the term in section 3 of the ADA (42 U.S.C. 12102).
(11) Employee.--The term ``employee'' has the meaning given
the term in section 101 of the ADA (42 U.S.C. 12111).
(12) Employer.--The term ``employer'' has the meaning given
the term in section 101 of the ADA (42 U.S.C. 12111).
(13) Employment agency.--The term ``employment agency'' has
the meaning given the term in section 701 of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e).
(14) Employment entity.--The term ``employment entity''
means an employer, employment agency, labor organization, or
joint labor-management committee.
(15) Information and communication technology.--The term
``information and communication technology''--
(A) means--
(i) any equipment or interconnected system
or subsystem of equipment, used in the
automatic acquisition, storage, analysis,
evaluation, manipulation, management, movement,
control, display, switching, interchange,
transmission, or reception of data or
information; and
(ii) other equipment or technology, or
another system or process, for which the
principal function is the creation,
manipulation, storage, display, receipt, or
transmission of electronic data and
information, as well as any associated content;
and
(B) includes computers and peripheral equipment,
information kiosks and transaction machines,
telecommunications equipment, customer premises
equipment, multifunction office machines, software,
applications, web content, videos, and electronic
documents.
(16) Joint labor-management committee.--The term ``joint
labor-management committee'' means a labor management committee
established pursuant to section 205A of the Labor Management
Relations Act, 1947 (29 U.S.C. 175a) and engaged in commerce.
(17) Labor organization.--The term ``labor organization''
has the meaning given the term in section 701 of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e).
(18) Operable.--The term ``operable'', used with respect to
web content or an application, means that user interface
components and navigation for the web content or application
can be operated by individuals with disabilities.
(19) Perceivable.--The term ``perceivable'', used with
respect to web content or an application, means that
information and user interface components for the web content
or application are presentable in ways that individuals with
disabilities can perceive.
(20) Public accommodation.--The term ``public
accommodation'' means a private entity described in paragraph
(7) of section 301 of the ADA (42 U.S.C. 12181) that owns,
operates, or utilizes web content or an application for covered
use.
(21) Public entity.--The term ``public entity'' has the
meaning given the term ``public entity'' in section 201 of the
ADA (42 U.S.C. 12131).
(22) Qualified individual.--The term ``qualified
individual'', used with respect to an employee or an applicant
to become an employee, has the meaning given the term in
section 101 of the ADA (42 U.S.C. 12111).
(23) Robust.--The term ``robust'', used with respect to web
content or an application, means web content or an application
for which the content can be interpreted by and the interface
can be accessed by a wide variety of tools, including assistive
technology, used by individuals with disabilities.
(24) Small entity.--The term ``small entity'' means an
entity or provider defined as a small entity in the regulations
issued under subsection (a) or (b) of section 5.
(25) Software definitions.--
(A) Platform software.--
(i) In general.--The term ``platform
software'' means software--
(I) that interacts with hardware or
provides services for other software;
(II) that may run or host other
software, and may isolate the other
software from underlying software or
hardware layers; and
(III) a single component of which
may have both platform and non-platform
aspects.
(ii) Platform.--For purposes of clause (i),
the term ``platform'' includes--
(I) a desktop operating system;
(II) an embedded operating system,
including a mobile system;
(III) a web browser;
(IV) a plugin to a web browser that
renders a particular media or format;
and
(V) a set of components that allows
another application to execute, such as
an application which supports macros or
scripting.
(B) Software.--In subparagraphs (A) and (C), the
term ``software''--
(i) means a program, a procedure, and a
rule (any of which may include related data or
documentation), that directs the use and
operation of information and communication
technology to perform a given task or function;
and
(ii) includes applications, non-web
software, platform software, and software
tools.
(C) Software development tool.--
(i) In general.--The term ``software tool''
means software--
(I) for which the primary function
is the development of other software;
and
(II) that usually comes in the form
of an Integrated Development
Environment (IDE) and is an application
suite of related products and
utilities.
(ii) Integrated development environment.--
In clause (i), the term ``Integrated
Development Environment'' means an application
such as--
(I) Microsoft Visual Studio Code;
(II) Apple Xcode; and
(III) Eclipse Foundation Eclipse.
(26) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several
States, the District of Columbia, and any territory or
possession of the United States.
(27) Testing entity.--The term ``testing entity'' means any
person whose operations affect commerce, as defined in section
301 of the ADA (42 U.S.C. 12181) and that offers examinations
or courses related to, applying, licensing, certification, or
credentialing for secondary or postsecondary education,
professional, or trade purposes.
(28) Understandable.--The term ``understandable'', used
with respect to web content or an application, means that the