Report 2014-131 Recommendations

To ensure that it addresses barriers to the accessibility of its website for persons with disabilities, Community Colleges should, no later than December 1, 2015, correct the accessibility violations we found during our review.

No later than December 1, 2015, Community Colleges should develop a plan to determine whether the accessibility violations we identified exist on other portions of its online presence that we did not include in the scope of our review, including any web presence managed by its technology center. Once this plan is executed, it should correct violations wherever it finds them and do so no later than June 1, 2016.

To ensure that updates to its website are tested for accessibility, by July 31, 2015, Community Colleges should develop and follow a written test approach that describes how and when changes to its website will be reviewed. This plan should describe how the department will include both automated and manual forms of accessibility testing.

To ensure that it can accurately track whether accessibility issues found during testing have been resolved, Community Colleges should direct its vendor to more clearly and consistently document when the fix for an accessibility defect has been implemented in the live version of the online application.

To ensure that individuals have a wider variety of contact information available to them for reporting problems with website accessibility, by July 31, 2015, Community Colleges should update its accessibility page to include all methods of communication that state requirements mandate for other departments.

To enhance the overall accessibility of its website, by July 31, 2015, Community Colleges should list general web browser usability features on its websites after verifying that its sites are compatible with those features. Additionally, Community Colleges should add links to its website directing users to browser-specific usability information for these four popular web browsers: Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Firefox.

To ensure that it addresses barriers to the accessibility of its website for persons with disabilities, Covered California should, no later than December 1, 2015, correct the accessibility violations we found during our review.

No later than December 1, 2015, Covered California should develop a plan to determine whether the accessibility violations we identified exist on other portions of its online presence that we did not include in the scope of our review. Once this plan is executed, it should correct violations wherever it finds them and do so no later than June 1, 2016.

To ensure that updates to its website are tested for accessibility, by July 31, 2015, Covered California should develop and follow a written test approach that describes how and when changes to its website will be reviewed. This plan should describe how the department will include both automated and manual forms of accessibility testing.

To ensure that individuals have a wider variety of contact information available to them for reporting problems with website accessibility, by July 31, 2015, Covered California should update its accessibility page to include all methods of communication that state requirements mandate for other departments.

To ensure that it appropriately addresses any complaints it receives related to web accessibility, Covered California should develop procedures to regularly review the complaints it receives at its accessibility email address and address any web accessibility complaints in a timely fashion.

To ensure that it addresses barriers to the accessibility of its website for persons with disabilities, Franchise Tax Board should, no later than December 1, 2015, correct the accessibility violations we found during our review.

No later than December 1, 2015, Franchise Tax Board should develop a plan to determine whether the accessibility violations we identified exist on other portions of its online presence that we did not include in the scope of our review. Once this plan is executed, it should correct violations wherever it finds them and do so no later than June 1, 2016.

To ensure that it addresses barriers to the accessibility of its website for persons with disabilities, CalHR should, no later than December 1, 2015, correct the accessibility violations we found during our review.

No later than December 1, 2015, CalHR should develop a plan to determine whether the accessibility violations we identified exist on other portions of its online presence that we did not include in the scope of our review. Once this plan is executed, it should correct violations wherever it finds them and do so no later than June 1, 2016.

To ensure that updates to its website are tested for accessibility, by July 31, 2015, CalHR should develop and follow a written test approach that describes how and when changes to its website will be reviewed. This plan should describe how the department will include both automated and manual forms of accessibility testing.

To ensure that it can adequately track the results of its accessibility testing, by July 31, 2015, CalHR should develop tracking tools that will allow it to document its testing efforts. At a minimum, these tools should track what portions of its jobs site were tested, what errors were found, and whether and when those errors were addressed.

So that complaints from the public do not go unaddressed, by July 31, 2015, CalHR should develop procedures for addressing complaints about the accessibility of its website and methods for tracking the complaints it receives and their resolution.

To maximize the accessibility of California's websites, the Legislature should amend state law to require that all state websites conform to WCAG 2.0 standards at compliance level AA in addition to the Section 508 standards.

To help ensure that California's accessibility standards remain current, the Legislature should amend state law to require CalTech to monitor commonly accepted accessibility standards and apprise the Legislature of any changes to those standards that California should adopt.

To ensure that state governmental entities have a clearly identified resource for web accessibility training, the Legislature should amend state law to name CalTech as the lead agency responsible for providing training to state governmental entities on web accessibility issues, in consultation with Rehabilitation and other state departments as it determines necessary.

To ensure that governmental entity personnel have the information and tools necessary to develop and maintain accessible websites, the Legislature should require governmental entities to provide or obtain web accessibility training at least once every three years for staff involved in the procurement or development of websites or web-based services.

To help ensure that all state governmental entities appropriately test their websites for accessibility, the Legislature should direct all state governmental entities to report every other year to CalTech regarding the frequency and method of their web accessibility testing and their efforts to resolve accessibility issues they identify. Such reporting should include signed certifications from the highest-ranking technology officer at the governmental entity and documentation that supports the claimed testing as well as the entity's effort to fix identified issues. Further, the Legislature should direct CalTech to assess the sufficiency of each governmental entity's testing and remediation approach and publicize the results of its review online.

To ensure that all state departments are reminded about web accessibility requirements and best practices, by July 31, 2015, CalTech should issue an official reminder that directs state departments to key policy documents and the SIMM for additional information about how to meet their obligation to provide accessible websites.

To help state websites achieve a higher degree of overall accessibility, by July 31, 2015, CalTech should post standard browser usability features and links to further information on its resources website, and direct all state departments to include this information on their websites.

To standardize California's approach to web accessibility testing, CalTech should issue a policy that specifies the method by which state departments should conduct web accessibility testing. This policy should include information about a minimum combination of operating systems, browsers, and assistive technologies that should be used during testing.