Accessibility Testing Services in California

Unruh Act audits for the state where each violation starts at $4,000.

Order your audit · $499 Or scan 10 pages free first

Where California stands right now

California's Unruh Act turns an ADA violation into state statutory damages. That is $4,000 minimum per violation, plus fees, which is why so much accessibility litigation carries a California caption. And the exposure compounds. Page by page, visit by visit.

We audit California-facing sites against WCAG 2.1 AA, the standard courts and settlements expect, and every finding arrives with the screenshot that proves it and the fix that closes it. Your developers fix, we verify. That re-check is half price within 3 months.

The law that reaches you in California

Unruh Civil Rights Act (California)

Standard: WCAG 2.1 AA (what courts and settlements expect)
Where it stands: In force (piggybacks the ADA)
Who it binds: The private sector
Reaches sellers based abroad: Not by itself
What non-compliance costs: $4,000 minimum statutory damages per violation + fees

Minimum per violation: $4,000
Treble damages available: 3×
Attorney's fees recoverable: Fees
WCAG expected in practice: 2.1 AA

The Unruh Act dates, 1 of them

OngoingNo compliance date: exposure exists whenever a Californian hits a barrier on your site

Read the full Unruh Act page

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Standard: WCAG 2.1 AA (Title II rule, de facto standard in Title III cases)
Where it stands: Title II: Apr 26, 2027 / Apr 26, 2028
Who it binds: Public and private sectors
Reaches sellers based abroad: Not by itself
What non-compliance costs: Federal lawsuits, DOJ enforcement, settlement costs

Federal web suits, 2025 (Seyfarth): 3,117
Growth over 2024: +27%
Of all Title III filings: 36%
WCAG version cited: 2.1 AA

The ADA dates, 4 of them

Apr 24, 2024DOJ Title II final rule published: WCAG 2.1 AA becomes a formal requirement for state and local governments
Apr 20, 2026DOJ extends the compliance deadlines by one year
Apr 26, 2027Deadline: public entities with a Census population of 50,000 or more
Apr 26, 2028Deadline: smaller entities and special districts

Read the full ADA page

Which date applies to a public body in California

This is the part public bodies get wrong most often, and it is worth two minutes. The Title II rule sorts you by population, and the Department of Justice says in as many words that your population is not the number of people you serve. Four rules decide which figure is yours.

You have a Census population of your own. Use it. A city, a county, a state.
You are an independent school district. Use your figure from the 2022 Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates instead, not the district's enrollment.
You have no population of your own. Take the Census population of the government you are part of. A library branch, a parks department, a transit agency, a public university. This is the one that moves people into the earlier tier, and it is why the figure above matters to more than the local government itself.
You are a special district government. There is no Census population to count, and your date is April 26, 2028.

The DOJ's own example is the one that lands. A state university with 40,000 students, sitting inside a state of six million, has a population of six million and the earlier date. The student count never came into it. The full ADA page works through the rest, including the five kinds of content that are exempt and the cost defense and who has to prove it.

Take federal health money as well and a second clock runs beside this one, because the HHS Section 504 rule counts employees rather than population. We audit against both dates at once for government bodies and school districts.

What accessibility testing in California covers

Start with the honest part. The audit is the same in California as it is anywhere, because WCAG does not change at a border. What changes is which law is watching and what it costs to fail, and the section above settles that.

The work itself runs in three passes. A machine finds the failures a machine can prove. A human works every one of the 55 A and AA rules by hand. Then a professional blind screen-reader user opens your real journeys and tries to finish them, the way your customers would. Every finding arrives with its screenshot and the fix that closes it, drawn from our free library of 432 guides.

None of the reference sits behind a form, either. Every number below counts pages you can go and read right now, free, whether you ever buy an audit or not.

A and AA rules we check: 55
Techniques and failures: 432
ACT test rules: 90
ARIA roles documented: 94
Terms in the glossary: 131
Checklists to work from: 9

A free 10-page scan that finds what a machine can prove, before you spend anything
Paid audits at fixed prices on the pricing page, $499 for 10 pages in 5 business days, $1,499 for 25 in 10
The exact deliverable, free to read, as the sample report

The honest limit

And an audit is evidence, not a legal opinion. We tell you what fails, who it stops, and what closes it. Whether that satisfies a regulator or a court in California is a question for your lawyer, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise.

Questions owners in California ask us

Does the audit change because my site is in California?

No. WCAG is the same standard everywhere, so the testing is identical wherever you are. What changes is which law is watching and what failing it costs, and that is what the law section on this page settles.

Which law applies to my site in California?

Unruh Act and ADA are the ones that reach California first, and each has its own page here covering what it asks for, who it lands on, and how it gets enforced. Sell into more than one market and more than one of them can reach you at the same time.

Do I have to publish an accessibility statement in California?

No law that reaches California names one in our library, so nothing forces you to publish a statement. You can still publish one anyway, and our free generator will write it from what the audit found.

What does the audit cost, and how fast is the report?

A Rapid Audit is $499 for 10 pages, with the report in 5 business days. A Standard Audit is $1,499 for 25 pages in 10 business days. Once your team has fixed things, the re-audit is half price within 3 months.

Do you actually test with a blind user?

Yes, on every audit. A professional blind screen-reader user opens your real journeys and tries to finish them, and we write down where they stop. That is the pass no scanner can run.

Related on this site

The reading behind the law that reaches you in California, and the guides that turn it into work your team can do.

Counties we test in California

Show all 58

Accessibility testing in other countries

Show all 49

Find out where your site stands in California

Run the free scan. Read the sample report. Order the audit when you want the humans on it, and what lands is a report your developers, your lawyer or a regulator in California can act on.