HB 1355 (Tran) would have made numerous organizational changes to the Information Technology Access Act. The bill defines “information and communications technology” as it relates to digital accessibility, defined in the bill, for all persons with disabilities. The bill permits the head of each covered entity, defined in the bill, to designate an employee to serve as such covered entity’s digital accessibility coordinator and provides that such digital accessibility coordinator is responsible for developing and implementing such covered entity’s digital accessibility policy, among other provisions.
VACo requested a local fiscal impact statement from the Commission on local Government, which estimated a negative fiscal impact ranging from $6,000 to $2.4 million over the biennium. Localities identified the bill’s fiscal impact as the increase in personnel costs needed to hire a digital accessibility coordinator, integrators, and other contractors, as well as staff time to review vendor contracts for compliance; increased recurring operating costs for licensing subscriptions, compliant software, and policy development/compliance; and one-time operating expenses to replace hardware. One County would need to rescope IT capital projects to develop custom solutions for each department of the County, resulting in one-time capital expenses.
VACo testified to these concerns at the February 28 meeting of Senate General Laws and Technology, which voted unanimously to carry the bill over to 2025 to the Department of General Services Procurement workgroup.
VACo Contact: Jeremy R. Bennett