The Texas Department of Information Resources (department) adopts the amendments to 1 TAC Chapter 206, §§206.1, 206.50, 206.51, 206.54, 206.55, 206.70, 206.71, 206.74, and 206.75, concerning State Web Sites. Chapter 206, §§206.1, 206.50, 206.51, 206.55, 206.70, 206.71, and 206.75 are adopted with changes to the proposed text as published in the June 6, 2008, issue of the Texas Register (33 TexReg 4407). Chapter 206, §206.54 and §206.74 are adopted without change.

The amendments implement the requirements of Chapter 2054, Texas Government Code, Subchapter M, Access to Electronic and Information Resources By Individuals With Disabilities.

The department received written comments during the 30-day comment period from a Research Specialist, representing the Texas Governor's Committee On People with Disabilities (committee), the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, Center for Consumer and External Affairs, Stakeholder Relations Unit, DADS Council and EIR Accessibility Coordinator (DADS), Texas HHSC Civil Rights Office, Accessibility and Compliance Coordinator (HHSC), and an interested individual. A summary of the comments and responses follows.

Comment: The committee recommended a change to the current definition of "Home page" in 1 TAC §206.1(13) to the definition provided by the International Standards Organization (ISO 9241-151). "Home page: main page through which users typically enter a website and whose URL is typically published or linked as the main Web address of an organization or an individual."

Response: The department has had considerable discussion with interested parties regarding the definition of "Home page." The definition proposed by the committee does not include a clear reference to an "entry point to a state Web site", in addition to the initial page of a state Web site. The department notes that "Key public entry point" is defined at 1 TAC §206.1(18), and the department believes that "entry point to a state Web site" must be addressed in the definition of "Home page." The department believes the current definition reflects the consensus of the department and the interested parties, therefore no change was made.

Comment: The committee recommended that "Intranet" be added to the list of terms defined in 1 TAC §206.1. The committee recommended adherence to the definition provided by the International Organization of Standards (ISO), which is as follows: "a computer network using Internet standards, the access to which is limited to members of a particular organization such as a company."

Response: The department agrees with the committee and added "Intranet" to the list of terms defined in 1 TAC §206.1 using the recommended definition.

Comment: The committee recommended that "Assistive Technology", used in 1 TAC §206.50(a)(12), be added to the list of terms defined in 1 TAC §206.1.

Response: In response to the committee's recommendation, the department added "Assistive Technology" to the list of terms defined in 1 TAC §206.1 using the definition found in 1 TAC §213.1(3).

Comment: The committee commented that the definition of "Survey" did not include the requirement for an annual survey, in compliance with House Bill 2819.

Response: The department disagrees. The requirement that the survey be conducted annually was removed from Texas Government Code §2054.464, by action of House Bill 1788, 80th Regular Session.

Comment: The committee requested a change to "Training/Technical Assistance" as defined in 1 TAC §206.1(28), to add the adjective "Accessibility".

Response: The department disagrees. The department notes that the current definition of "Training/Technical Assistance" includes the adjective "Accessibility". Therefore, the department did not make the requested change.

Comment: The committee and an interested individual requested a change to the definition of "Usability" as defined in 1 TAC §206.1(32), and the interested individual noted certain grammatical errors in the existing definition.

Response: In response to the comments, the department has deleted the existing definition of "Usability" in 1 TAC §206.1(32), and replaced it with the following new definition: "Usability--The extent to which an application or product is determined to be well-designed with the goals of maximizing user task completion, comprehension, and efficiency."

Comment: The committee requested a change to the definition of "Web Page" in 1 TAC §206.1(36) by adding "PDF" at the end of the list of examples, and also recommended that the department use the following ISO definition of a "Web Page": "a coherent presentation of a content object or set of content objects and associated interaction objects through a user agent."

Response: In response to the comment, the department agrees that adding "PDF" to the list of examples is appropriate and added it to the definition. The department rejects the suggestion to use the ISO definition of a "Web Page" because a change to the definition might have an effect on other rules, and may create unintended consequences. The department will review this recommendation for future consideration.

Comment: The committee requested the term "Web applications," as used in 1 TAC §206.51(b), be added to the list of terms defined in 1 TAC §206.1.

Response: In response to the comment, the department felt that "Web applications" is a commonly understood term and therefore did not make the change.

Comment: The committee commented that in 1 TAC §206.50(a), the phrase "Web pages/content" is used, though only "Web pages" is defined.

Response: In response to the comment, the department agrees that Web page is a defined term and using a combination of terms, such as "Web page/content", creates an ambiguity. The department therefore deleted the instances of "Web page/content" in 1 TAC §§206.1, 206.50(a) and 206.70(a), and replaced them with "Web pages and Web content."

Comment: The committee commented that 1 TAC §206.50(a)(2) does not include a §508 requirement addressing the synchronization of alternate formats with multimedia presentations.

Response: The committee's comment was related to a requirement that was discussed during the drafting of the 2006 version of the 1 TAC Chapter 206 rules. At that time, the accessibility workgroup discussed a requirement for agencies to comply with §508, 36 C.F.R. Part 1194.22 (b) that states "Equivalent alternatives for any multimedia presentation shall be synchronized with the presentation." The accessibility workgroup determined that a synchronization requirement would cause undue burden and excessive cost to state agencies and institutions of higher education. The department also notes that accessibility of multimedia products is addressed in 1 TAC §213.12(b), concerning Video and Multimedia Products, which provides that "Upon receiving a request for accommodation of a Web cast of training/informational video productions which support the agency's mission, each state agency which receives such a request for accommodation shall provide an alternative form(s) of accommodation in accordance with §2054.456 and §2054.457, Texas Government Code." The department has determined that no changes to the proposed rule relating to this comment are necessary.

Comment: The committee asked the department to clarify the meaning of "types of Internet connections" in §206.50(e) by suggesting that the department consider replacing "types" with a term like "upload/download speed."

Response: The department believes that "types of Internet connections" is a commonly understood term and common usage generally addresses the speed of a connection. Therefore the department did not make the requested change.

Comment: HHSC commented that 1 TAC §206.51(b) and §213.21(b) require agencies to develop a plan"... by which all noncompliant Web pages, Web sites and Web applications will be brought into compliance ...", and asked if that includes electronic and information resources (EIR) in existence before September 2006. Read literally, it includes all EIR, not just that produced since September 2006.

Response: The department agrees with the comment that 1 TAC §206.51(b) is ambiguous. If read literally, the proposed rule might lead a reader to conclude incorrectly that all EIR must be brought into compliance, including those Web pages, Web sites and Web applications that are not subject to the Web accessibility standards. Therefore, 1 TAC §206.51(b) has been revised to require that the plan only address Web pages, Web sites and Web applications that are subject to the Web accessibility standards, as defined in 1 TAC §206.1(36). Because 1 TAC §206.71(b) uses the same terminology applied to Institutions of Higher Education, the same change was also made to 1 TAC §206.71(b).

Comment: The committee requested a revision to 1 TAC §206.51(c) to clarify that the survey is used as a means of identifying non-compliant pages.

Response: In response to the comment, the department agrees and revised 1 TAC §206.51(c). The new wording is as follows: "(c) The department shall develop and publish a standard operating procedure to manage agency non-compliance, including a process for a corrective action plan for non-compliant items identified on an accessibility survey." Because 1 TAC §206.71(c) uses the same terminology applied to Institutions of Higher Education, the same change was also made to 1 TAC §206.71(c).

Comment: DADS commented that the specific job duties of the Accessibility Coordinator should be left to the discretion of each agency.

Response: In response to the comment, the department affirms that the specific job duties of the Accessibility Coordinator are not defined by rule. It is the responsibility of each agency to identify the specific job duties of their Accessibility Coordinator. No changes were made to the rule. The department intends to provide additional guidance and assistance on this topic following adoption of the rule.

Comment: The committee asked the department to clarify the meaning of "site validation" in 1 TAC §206.55(b).

Response: In response to the comment, the department noted that site validation is discussed and defined in 1 TAC §206.50(c), (d) and (f) sufficiently to address the committee's concerns. Therefore, no change to the rules is necessary.

In reviewing the proposed rules, the department discovered a grammatical error, and corrected the grammatical error in 1 TAC §206.50(f) and §206.70(f).

The amendments are adopted under §2054.052(a), Texas Government Code, which authorizes the department to adopt rules necessary to implement its responsibilities under the Information Resources Management Act, and §2054.453, Texas Government Code, which authorizes the department to adopt rules necessary to implement its responsibilities for the development, procurement, maintenance, and use of electronic and information resources by state agencies to provide access to individuals with disabilities.