Streamline Blog

The Department of Justice has issued new website accessibility guidelines that will significantly impact special districts nationwide. Here are the 5 biggest takeaways:

Special District Grant Accessibility Act - H.R. 7525 The Special District Grant Accessibility Act codifies in federal law a first-ever formal definition of “special district.” In addition to establishing such a definition, H.R. 7525 would direct federal agencies to recognize special districts as local governments for the purpose of ensuring that districts are eligible to receive appropriate forms of federal assistance, including funding and resources through key grant programs.

Many districts are not currently using a .gov domain, or they don't realize they can get one. However, we are starting to see more and more districts setting up their website with a .gov. Some states are even pushing for it, like AB 1637 in California, which could mandate the use of a .gov by districts. If history has shown us anything, it's that California often sets the tone for districts across the country. So if .gov domains become a requirement in California, other states could follow suit (note: a .gov domain is not currently required for districts in any state).

By the end of 2023, more than 10% of districts were affected by a website ADA claim. This rapid increase is startling, and we want to help you stay informed and prepared for any risks facing special districts.

Streamline has always stood for holding ourselves and our community accountable to good governance and transparency to the public. We don’t just help you build a website. We provide much-needed guidance on the laws and regulations that affect how you should (and in some cases, must!) communicate with your community and stakeholders online.

We believe California special districts deserve COVID-19 relief funds. So we’re partnering with CSDA and a growing coalition of communities and local leaders to urge the State of California to extend Coronavirus relief funding to special districts.

On Thursday, May 12, 2020, Governor Newsom issued an executive order giving our special districts greater flexibility to hold remote meetings during the current crisis. See item 11 of the executive order for details on temporary changes to the Brown Act. For special districts who have not hosted online meetings in the past, it may feel overwhelming to consider meeting remotely. Streamline does not provide that sort of technology, but we do use it on a regular basis and would be happy to help in any way we can. If you need to talk through options, feel free to reach out and we'll get back to you as quickly as we can. We're also hosting a conversation about this on Wednesday March 18th - it's part of a 6 week series on marketing for special districts, but you're welcome to sign up and just attend a single episode. The California Special Districts Association has developed a resources page that can provide more information, and includes links to pertinent state and federal resources where members can receive the most current information.

California legislators are pushing for additional transparency requirements for local government agencies. Their latest bid, Senate Bill 931, will require our districts to provide a copy of the full agenda packet via mail or email to anyone who requests it. Sounds like a great idea on the surface, doesn’t it? Of course, we agree that the public has the right to know what their elected officials are doing when it comes to official district business, but there are numerous problems with this proposed bill.

The Special District Leadership Foundation announced that it will be increasing the amount of their joint SDLF / Streamline scholarship pool for 2020. In the past, districts with annual operating revenues below $500,000 were able to utilize a scholarship to receive 15 months free services on the Streamline Web platform - as long as the district didn't already have a website. This year, the scholarship is also available to districts who have a website that isn't compliant with all of the California posting and formatting requirements (including being accessible to visitors with disabilities).

Creating websites that are accessible to visitors with disabilities can be challenging, especially for developers building one-off / standalone sites. Most websites that were built even a year ago are likely not accessible, and many of the content management systems out there aren't accessible out-of-the-box, so to speak. If your website partner wasn't specifically told to build your website in an accessible way, it's likely that your site may have a few issues. Accessible websites aren't easy to build! If you're wondering if your site is accessible, you can get an idea by using an automated scanner. Automated testing won't catch every potential issue, but it will check the basics (and the most obvious), giving you an overall idea of how you're doing. (If you need 100% comprehensive testing, have it done by professionals using assistive devices.) So how do you test your site yourself?