I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3417 
To establish uniform accessibility standards for websites and applications 
of employers, employment agencies, labor organizations, joint labor-man-
agement committees, public entities, public accommodations, testing enti-
ties, 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 subse-
quently 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 Representa-
tives 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’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) Section 2(b)(1) of the Americans with Dis-
abilities Act of 1990 (ADA) states that the Act pro-
vides ‘‘a clear and comprehensive national mandate 
for the elimination of discrimination against individ-
uals with disabilities’’ (42 U.S.C. 12101(b)(1)). 
(2) In 1990, websites and applications were es-
sentially nonexistent, but Congress made clear that 
the ADA ‘‘should keep pace with the rapidly chang-
ing 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 sec-
tion 302 of the ADA (42 U.S.C. 12182) broadly 
prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability in 
regard to employment; services programs, or activi-
ties of public entities; and of goods, services, facili-
ties, 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 indi-
viduals with disabilities by using technologies such 
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as video remote interpreting, real-time computer- 
aided transcription, open and closed captioning, 
audio description, videophones, captioned telephones, 
screen reader software, optical readers, and tele-
phone systems that interact properly with internet- 
based relay systems. 
(5) The Department of Justice has also promul-
gated 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 activi-
ties offered by public entities to the public through 
the web and mobile applications. 
(6) The activities of a vast number of ADA-cov-
ered entities now occur in whole or in part through 
websites and applications, a shift that was acceler-
ated by a global pandemic. The digital economy ac-
counts 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, pro-
grams, and activities of public entities; and all 
goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and 
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accommodations of public accommodations, includ-
ing when conducted through websites and applica-
tions, most websites and applications of entities cov-
ered by the ADA contain significant barriers for in-
dividuals 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 ac-
cessible 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 sec-
tion 302 only covers certain websites of public ac-
commodations depending on the relationship between 
the website and a physical place. Section 302’s cov-
erage is not limited to physical places. Section 302 
covers all websites and applications of public accom-
modations, regardless of whether the public accom-
modation is a physical place or regardless of the re-
lationship between a website or application and a 
physical place. 
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(10) Without equal access to websites and ap-
plications, 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 mem-
bers of the public be readily accessible to and use-
able by individuals with disabilities, whether the en-
tity 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 nation-
wide problem of inaccessible websites and applica-
tions 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 tech-
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nologies do not impair the rights and abilities of in-
dividuals 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, under-
standable, 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 inde-
pendence, and same ease of use as, individuals with-
out 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 Ameri-
cans 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, 
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including a smartphone, tablet, self-service kiosk, 
wearable technology item, or laptop or desktop com-
puter 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 ‘‘com-
mercial provider’’ means any entity, including a pub-
lic or private entity— 
(A) whose operations affect commerce; and 
(B) that designs, develops, constructs, al-
ters, modifies, or adds an application or web 
content for a covered entity (including a cov-
ered 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 Commis-
sion. 
(7) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered en-
tity’’ means an employment entity, public entity, 
public accommodation, or testing entity. 
(8) COVERED USE.—The term ‘‘covered use’’ 
means— 
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(A) use by an employment entity in deter-
mining or conducting job application proce-
dures, hiring, advancement, or discharge of em-
ployees, employee compensation, job training, or 
other term, condition, or privilege of employ-
ment, 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 test-
ing entity to provide to customers or other 
members of the public a good, service, facility, 
privilege, advantage, or accommodation, includ-
ing 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. 
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(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 ‘‘em-
ployment 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 ‘‘em-
ployment entity’’ means an employer, employment 
agency, labor organization, or joint labor-manage-
ment committee. 
(15) 
INFORMATION
AND
COMMUNICATION 
TECHNOLOGY.—The term ‘‘information and commu-
nication technology’’— 
(A) means— 
(i) any equipment or interconnected 
system or subsystem of equipment, used in 
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the automatic acquisition, storage, anal-
ysis, evaluation, manipulation, manage-
ment, movement, control, display, switch-
ing, 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, manipu-
lation, storage, display, receipt, or trans-
mission 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, cus-
tomer premises equipment, multifunction office 
machines, software, applications, web content, 
videos, and electronic documents. 
(16) 
JOINT
LABOR-MANAGEMENT
COM-
MITTEE.—The term ‘‘joint labor-management com-
mittee’’ means a labor management committee es-
tablished 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 
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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 compo-
nents for the web content or application are present-
able in ways that individuals with disabilities can 
perceive. 
(20) 
PUBLIC
ACCOMMODATION.—The 
term 
‘‘public accommodation’’ means a private entity de-
scribed 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 enti-
ty’’ 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 em-
ployee or an applicant to become an employee, has 
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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 tech-
nology, 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 soft-
ware; 
(II) that may run or host other 
software, and may isolate the other 
software from underlying software or 
hardware layers; and 
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