{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://alford.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1678", "Alford, Correa Introduce Bipartisan \u201cOnline Accessibility Act\u201d to Expand Access & Protect Small Businesses", "2026-07-01", "2026", "2026-07", "Republican", "House", "MO", "Mark Alford", "A000379", "alford.house.gov", "alford", "https://alford.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2014 Today, Congressman Mark Alford (MO-04) and Congressman Lou Correa (CA-46) introduced the Online Accessibility Act, bipartisan legislation to modernize the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for the digital age while protecting small businesses from abusive website lawsuits.\n\nThe legislation establishes clear, uniform accessibility standards for consumer-facing websites and mobile applications and creates a structured process to ensure issues are fixed\u2014rather than exploited.\n\n\u201cMissouri small businesses want to do the right thing\u2014they want their websites accessible to everyone,\u201d said Congressman Alford. \u201cWhat they don\u2019t want is to be hit with vague demand letters or forced into costly settlements over technical issues they weren\u2019t given a chance to fix. This bill brings clarity, fairness, and accountability to the system\u2014protecting access for individuals with disabilities while also protecting small businesses from predatory lawsuits.\u201d\n\nThe Online Accessibility Act:\n\nEstablishes clear federal accessibility standards for websites and mobile applications\n\nRequires notice and an opportunity to fix accessibility issues before legal action\n\nCreates a structured enforcement process through the Department of Justice\n\nProvides flexibility for small businesses working in good faith to comply\n\nAcross Missouri and the country, small businesses have faced a growing wave of website accessibility lawsuits\u2014often over minor or unclear violations\u2014with little opportunity to correct issues before legal action is taken.\n\nState-level efforts have also begun to address the issue. According to the Missouri Independent, more than 100 locally owned businesses in Missouri have been targeted by website-related ADA lawsuits, with some forced to pay significant settlements or shut down operations.\n\nAccessibility matters, and it should be the goal, not an afterthought,\u201d Alford continued. \u201cThis bill makes sure the focus is on fixing problems and expanding access, not enriching trial lawyers.\u201d'\n\n\u201cWebsites need to be accessible to all customers. Small businesses in Southern California work hard to be accessible to all, but for too long there\u2019s been a lack of clarity and guidance for them,\u201d said Congressman Correa. \u201cThis bill will increase accessibility while also providing clarity to small businesses and giving them a chance to fix issues before being hit with costly lawsuits.\u201d\n\nThe legislation builds on growing bipartisan momentum at both the state and federal level to curb abusive litigation practices while strengthening accessibility protections.\n\n###", 1, "2026-07-02T06:20:02Z", "2026-07-02T06:21:32Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://alford.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1678"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8387803100049496, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}