This article is general information, not legal advice. Check with your city attorney or county counsel about how these rules apply to your agency.
If you stream public meetings, you have probably heard "WCAG 1.2.4" in a conversation about accessibility. This article explains what it means in plain language and what it looks like for a council or board meeting.
What WCAG is, in one paragraph
WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. It is a technical standard made up of "success criteria," each a specific, testable requirement with a level: A, AA or AAA. The DOJ's April 2024 ADA Title II web rule requires state and local government web content and mobile apps to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Level AA includes all the Level A criteria plus the Level AA criteria.
What 1.2.4 says
Success criterion 1.2.4 is called Captions (Live), and it is Level AA. It calls for captions for all live audio content in synchronized media.
Breaking that down for a meeting:
- "Live" means content broadcast as it happens, like your meeting stream.
- "Synchronized media" means audio together with video, which is what a meeting stream is.
- "All live audio content" means the captions cover what is said, not just a summary.
So for a live-streamed meeting, 1.2.4 is the criterion that asks for captions while the meeting is happening.
Its partner: 1.2.2 for recordings
Success criterion 1.2.2 is Captions (Prerecorded), and it is Level A. It calls for captions for prerecorded video. For most agencies, that means the meeting recordings posted after the meeting.
The two work together. 1.2.4 covers the meeting while it streams. 1.2.2 covers the recording once it is posted.
The dates
In April 2026, DOJ extended the web rule's compliance dates by one year:
- April 26, 2027 for public entities with a population of 50,000 or more
- April 26, 2028 for smaller entities and special districts
The extension doesn't change the standard, and the ADA's general obligations still apply. The rule also has exceptions, such as for certain archived content. This article is not legal advice; check with your city attorney or county counsel on how the rule applies to your agency and your recordings.
What good live captions look like in a meeting
WCAG says captions should be there. In a real chamber, a few practical qualities decide whether they actually help people follow along:
Timing
Captions that lag far behind the speaker are hard to follow, especially during a vote or a quick back-and-forth. SentraCaptions shows captions about one second after speech, and the sentence in progress updates live.
Names and local terms
Meetings are full of names: council members, residents, streets, neighborhoods, programs. A glossary of local names helps captions spell them right.
Where captions appear
Captions help most where people are already watching:
- On the stream. Captions in one language can be sent to your YouTube Live stream. YouTube shows one caption language per stream.
- In the room. A full-screen chamber display on the TV in the chamber or lobby, with the meeting title, a clock and a QR code.
- On a phone. Residents scan the QR code and read along at their own text size. No app, no sign-in.
Honest labeling
Every SentraCaptions screen labels the captions as automatic and says they may contain errors, so viewers know what they are reading.
Recess and closed session
Staff can pause captions for recess or closed session and resume after. While paused, nothing is captioned, translated, stored or billed, and the screens show "Paused."
Automatic captions, CART and recordings
Automatic captions and CART
Automatic captions are a practical way to caption every meeting. They don't replace CART (live human captioning) in every situation. If a deaf or hard-of-hearing resident requests CART as an accommodation, your agency should consider it under the ADA's effective communication rules, which give primary consideration to the person's request. Talk with counsel about how your agency handles those requests.
Covering recordings too
After each meeting, SentraCaptions provides transcripts in every language as TXT or SRT (subtitle) files. An SRT file can be attached to a posted recording as captions, which ties back to 1.2.2. Have staff review the file before posting, particularly names and numbers.
Transcripts are not official minutes, but they can help staff prepare minutes.
Setting it up
You add SentraCaptions as one more destination on the encoder you already stream with, such as Pearl, OBS or vMix, over RTMP or SRT. There is no new hardware. If you run several meetings at once, each room gets its own screen and link.
A simple first step: caption your next regular meeting, review the transcript afterward, and add any names that came out wrong to the glossary.