LOCAL GOVERNMENT

If your organization is covered by ADA Title II (cities, counties, townships, special districts, school districts and public universities all are), public meeting video you publish must meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA. That includes captions on live and recorded video. The compliance dates are April 26, 2027 for populations of 50,000 or more, and April 26, 2028 for those under 50,000 and for special districts.

Yes. The ADA Title II web accessibility rule covers all web content from a city, county or other public entity, not just one type of meeting. If you publish videos of a planning commission, zoning board, library board or parks board meeting, those videos need captions that meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA, the same as city council meetings.

Relying on them is risky. The Department of Justice declined to say whether automated captions are enough under the ADA Title II rule and pointed to W3C guidance, which says automatic captions aren't sufficient unless they're confirmed accurate. Posting a meeting to YouTube or another third-party platform also doesn't move the accessibility obligation off your organization.

It depends on your state and often on your organization's approved records retention schedule. Some states set a specific period for meeting video, while many leave it to a state archivist or local records commission. Ask your clerk or records officer for your current schedule, and check whether it was written before you started streaming meetings.

Under the ADA Title II rule, local governments generally have three options for meeting video they've already published: show that it qualifies for the rule's archived content exception, add captions, or remove it from public view. The exception has four conditions and is easy to fail, so review each collection carefully. If you remove videos, keep the files, since unpublishing isn't the same as destroying a public record.

Yes. With BoxCast's document display feature, you can upload agendas, handouts and other files that viewers can open and download while they watch the meeting.

Yes. BoxCast video markers can be added during or after a broadcast, so viewers can skip straight to the agenda item they care about.