[NFBSF] [NFBC-Info] AB 2190

Mon Mar 30 21:09:42 UTC 2026

Hello All,

I have seen some unfortunate confusion about this bill, particularly stemming from the Decertify LightHouse group.  I think some of the individuals have not fully read the text or are not familiar enough with litigation claim construction.  

I and many of the existing experts in disability rights litigation do think this bill is good for people with disabilities.  I'll try to create some materials explaining why I think it is ultimately an enhancement for people with disabilities and why the affirmative defense is so limited and conditional that it is worth having for what we get that we don't have today.

For now, suffice it to say that a good faith effort alone is not going to prevent us from asserting the rights we have today.  

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBSF <nfbsf-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Daveed Mandell via NFBSF
Sent: Monday, March 30, 2026 1:11 PM
To: nfbsf at nfbnet.org
Cc: Daveed Mandell <daveedmandell at gmail.com>; monica.wegner at outlook.com; president at nfbcal.org
Subject: Re: [NFBSF] [NFBC-Info] AB 2190

Hello, Monica:

I think this is a very detrimental bill for people with disabilities. We are going through that here right now with AC Transit. The District has completely neglected the accessibility of its mobile app and website, assuming that its third-party vendor will handle it all. The problem is that this vendor uses automated accessibility auditing and other tools, does no manual inspection, and has not tested  accessibility with people with disabilities. AC Transit has no accessibility testing mechanism whatsoever. 

I'm afraid that most government and business websites are being treated in this extremely negative manner. We must demand and expect accessibility. So-called documented good-faith efforts are mere excuses and unacceptable. We cannot allow governments and companies to engage in compliance exercises. They must protect and upheold our civil rights. 

Best regards,

Daveed Mandell

----- Original Message -----
From: Monica Wegner via NFBSF <nfbsf at nfbnet.org>
Date: Monday, March 30, 2026 12:32 PM
To: "NFB of San Francisco, California List" <nfbsf at nfbnet.org>
CC: Monica Wegner <monica.wegner at outlook.com>;"president at nfbcal.org" <president at nfbcal.org>
Subject: Re: [NFBSF] [NFBC-Info] AB 2190

Hello NFBSF and Tim,

I'm still forming an opinion about this bill. For anyone interested, the text is available here via the California legislature<https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB2190>. But I do have questions and on first blush, I don't think I would support this bill. That being said, I'm still forming an opinion so may not know all the facts.

Tim's email indicated that the bill is a bit hard to understand. But I think it's worth giving a go.

As drafted, AB 2190 appears to create a new affirmative defense to statutory-damages claims for website accessibility barriers if an entity can show certain disclosures, testing practices, and remediation steps. In practical terms, that reads to me as at least partly pro-defendant, even if the bill also includes some provisions aimed at website vendors and remediation. Put another way, it would move the goal posts from, does the disabled person have access to this thing, to has the business made a good faith effort to implement accessibility. We have discussed this before in chapter meetings; and I am generally opposed to codifying standards like WCAG into accessibility legislation. At least in part because the WCAG standard is largely controlled by big tech. Having a technical standard decide what is accessible does not benefit the disability community, especially when we are talking about new technologies where a standard may not apply.

>From the bill's preamble:
This bill would grant to an entity an affirmative defense to a claim seeking statutory damages under the provisions described above on the basis of a specific accessibility barrier on the entity's internet website, as defined, if the entity provided evidence to the plaintiff demonstrating within an unspecified number of days of receiving a written pre-lawsuit demand from the plaintiff that either (1) the entity published a digital accessibility report on the accessibility page of its internet website disclosing the specific access barrier and updated that report to reflect remediation of the access barrier or (2) that various things were true regarding the entity's efforts to identify and remediate access barriers on its internet website, including the entity had a reasonable and good faith basis to believe that the internet website was accessible and conformed with the internet website accessibility standard, as specified.

Monica

[Authored by a human;   not by AI.]<https://notbyai.fyi/>

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBC-Info <nfbc-info-bounces at nfbnet.org<mailto:nfbc-info-bounces at nfbnet.org>> On Behalf Of Tim Elder via NFBC-Info
Sent: Monday, March 30, 2026 11:01 AM
To: NFB of California List <nfbc-info at nfbnet.org<mailto:nfbc-info at nfbnet.org>>
Cc: Tim Elder <tim at timeldermusic.com<mailto:tim at timeldermusic.com>>
Subject: [NFBC-Info] AB 2190

We are pleased to join the many other disability rights organizations and

leaders supporting AB 2190 for website accessibility. This bill preserves

all existing rights to enforce against companies that don't make their

websites accessible. It creates new tools to enforce our rights. While the

bill is a bit hard to understand, it is in the best interest of blind, low

vision and DeafBlind individuals who want more websites to become accessible

without serial litigation. Please share and ask your fellow Californians to

support AB 2190.

You can read more about the bill here:

https://trackbill.com/bill/california-assembly-bill-2190-internet-website-ac

cessibility/2818711/

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