Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe signed Senate Bill 907 into law on May 6, 2026. The bill does one thing: it requires that a lawyer first give a small business written notice of an alleged ADA website accessibility violation before filing a lawsuit.
It passed the Missouri General Assembly unanimously. Both chambers. Every vote.
That kind of consensus is unusual. It reflects how frustrated small business owners are with a particular type of litigation that has exploded over the past five years.
The ADA website lawsuit problem
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that businesses serving the public be accessible to people with disabilities. That requirement has always applied to physical spaces - ramps, bathroom rails, accessible parking. But courts have increasingly ruled that it applies to websites too.
That ruling has had an unintended consequence. Serial plaintiffs - sometimes working with the same law firms - have built business models around suing small businesses over website accessibility violations. The playbook is simple: run a script to test websites for technical failures against WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) standards, send demand letters, and offer to settle for a few thousand dollars.
Most small businesses settle. Fighting a lawsuit costs more. The plaintiff collects and moves on to the next business.
According to data cited by NFIB, these suits are heavily concentrated in a few states - Florida, California, and New York have historically generated the most volume. But the practice has spread, and Missouri business owners have been among those targeted.
"For far too long, the small business community has been caught in the crosshairs of predatory trial attorneys and frivolous lawsuits," said Brad Jones, NFIB State Director in Missouri. "SB 907 is a commonsense reform to ensure our small business owners can resolve alleged issues with their websites before settling."
What SB 907 actually does
The law creates a notice-and-cure requirement. Before filing a lawsuit, a plaintiff must:
- Send written notice identifying the specific accessibility violation
- Give the business owner a defined window to fix the issue
If the business makes the fix, the lawsuit cannot proceed.
This is similar to how many state consumer protection laws work. The idea is that the goal of accessibility law is accessible websites - not litigation revenue. If a business fixes the problem when notified, the law has achieved its purpose.
Critics of this approach argue it weakens enforcement by giving businesses too long to delay. Supporters argue it eliminates bad-faith lawsuits filed without any actual intent to improve accessibility.
Why this matters beyond Missouri
Missouri is not the only state moving on this. Several states have passed or are considering similar notice-and-cure provisions for ADA website claims.
What's more significant is that this is a state-level response to a gap in federal law. The ADA itself has no specific language about websites - courts have been filling that gap with inconsistent rulings for years. Congress has periodically introduced bills to clarify website accessibility requirements, but nothing has passed. In that vacuum, states are making their own rules.
For small business owners, this creates a patchwork: the rules governing whether you can be sued before getting a chance to fix your site depend on which state you're in.
What you should actually do about your website
The passage of SB 907 does not mean the ADA doesn't apply to your website. It means Missouri plaintiffs now have to tell you what's wrong before suing you. That's meaningful protection - but it's not a get-out-of-jail-free card.
Here's what website accessibility problems actually look like at the small business level:
Missing image alt text is the most common. Screen readers rely on alt text to describe images to users who are blind or low-vision. If your product photos have no descriptions, your site is failing basic accessibility.
Poor color contrast is the second most common. Text that blends into a background fails WCAG guidelines and makes your site hard to read for people with low vision or color blindness.
Videos without captions violate accessibility rules if they contain meaningful audio.
Forms without labels - if the field just says "enter your email" in grey placeholder text, that disappears when a user clicks in, and screen readers often can't interpret the field correctly.
Missing keyboard navigation - users who can't use a mouse need to tab through your site. If that doesn't work, your site is inaccessible.
Free tools to check your site: the WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluator will scan any public URL and flag specific issues. Google Lighthouse (built into Chrome DevTools) also includes an accessibility audit.
Fixing the most common issues takes hours, not weeks. And it makes your site better for everyone - not just users with disabilities.
The bottom line
Missouri's law gives small business owners breathing room - a right to be told what's wrong and fix it before facing a lawsuit. It's a real protection and it passed with remarkable bipartisan support.
But the underlying requirement - that your website be accessible - hasn't changed. The smartest thing a small business owner can do is run a free accessibility scan today and address the top issues. If you're ever served with a notice letter, you want to be able to fix it fast.
Sources: NFIB press release, "Governor Kehoe Signs Bill to Stop ADA Lawsuit Abuse Into Law," May 6, 2026 (nfib.com); Missouri Senate Bill 907, signed May 6, 2026; WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluator (wave.webaim.org); Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Title III.