Sponsors (5)
Official title: To update the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010.
Introduced April 16, 2026 by Debbie Dingell · Last progress April 16, 2026
The bill substantially expands accessibility across modern video and communications—improving access for people with disabilities and underserved communities—while shifting significant compliance costs and regulatory complexity onto platforms, manufacturers, and smaller providers, creating trade-offs between broader inclusion and implementation burden.
People with disabilities (including Deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind, low-vision, and sign-language users) gain far broader access to internet-delivered and on‑demand video through required captions, audio description, and sign-language support — including discoverability and Spanish-language accommodations.
People with disabilities using real-time communications (video conferencing, calls, relay services) gain improved access via visual-description services, speech-to-text/voice-recognition options, simplified interfaces, DeafBlind tactile support, sign-language customer support, and parity for emergency (9-1-1) relay calls.
Consumers and industry get clearer regulatory timelines, an advisory committee to develop technical standards, and recurring reviews/rulemaking that create enforcement pathways and more predictable obligations across the supply chain.
Small businesses, device manufacturers, app/platform providers, and nonprofits face substantial compliance costs to add, store, deliver, and support captions, audio description, sign-language services, dedicated audio tracks, and device prompts — costs that may raise consumer prices or reduce product choices, especially for smaller providers.
The bill's reliance on multi-step FCC rulemaking, frequent updates, advisory-committee processes, and deferred implementation details risks regulatory uncertainty and delays that could slow practical benefits or produce uneven obligations across providers.
Economic-burden waivers and technical-feasibility exceptions create the risk that some small or resource-constrained providers will escape full obligations, producing uneven accessibility across content, markets, and communities.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Modernizes Communications Act accessibility rules to require captions, audio description, assistive-device compatibility, video-conference accessibility, and sign-language customer support for video and communications tech.
Updates the Communications Act to expand accessibility requirements for video and communications technologies so people with disabilities can access modern video programming, devices, and conferencing. It broadens the definition of covered video content, requires updated closed-captioning and audio-description rules for internet-delivered programming and devices, mandates accessibility features for interoperable video conferencing and customer support (including sign-language video calling), and creates a recurring FCC review of emerging technologies' accessibility impacts. The bill sets binding FCC rulemaking deadlines (ranging from 12 months to 3 years), requires manufacturers, platform providers, and app developers to share compliance responsibilities, and establishes periodic reporting and usability standards to track complaints and enforcement. It also directs the FCC to consult the Access Board and to update rules as new technologies (AI, AR/VR, IoT, spatial computing) emerge.