§ 715 — Instructional materials; students with disabilities

* § 715. Instructional materials; students with disabilities. 1. For\npurposes of this section, the following words shall have the following\nmeanings: (a) "College" means college as defined in subdivision two of\nsection six hundred one of this chapter;\n (b) "Instructional material or materials" means textbooks and other\nmaterials written and published by commercial publishers primarily for\nuse by students in postsecondary instruction that are required or\nessential to a student's success in a course of study in which a student\nwith a disability is enrolled. The determination of which materials are\n"required or essential to student success" shall be made by the\ninstructor of the course. "Instructional material or materials" shall\nalso include commercially published nontextual mathematics and science\nmaterial wherever available software permits the conversion of existing\nelectronic files of the materials into a format that is compatible with\nbraille translation software or alternative media for students with\ndisabilities.\n (c) "Nonprinted instructional materials" means commercially published\ninstructional materials in formats other than print, and includes\ncommercially published instructional materials that require the\navailability of electronic equipment in order to be used as a learning\nresource, including, but not necessarily limited to, commercially\npublished software programs, video disks, and video and audio tapes.\n (d) "Printed instructional material or materials" means instructional\nmaterial or materials commercially published in book or other\ncommercially published printed form.\n (e) "Structural integrity" means all of the commercially published\nprinted instructional material, including, but not limited to, the text\nof the material, sidebars, the table of contents, chapter headings and\nsubheadings, footnotes, pictures, illustrations, graphs, charts,\nindexes, glossaries, and bibliographies. If good faith efforts fail to\nproduce an agreement pursuant to subdivision two of this section between\nthe publisher or manufacturer and the commissioner as to an electronic\nformat that will preserve the structural integrity of the commercially\npublished printed instructional material, the publisher or manufacturer\nshall provide the instructional material in the most updated electronic\nformat taking into consideration the recommendation made by the National\nInstitute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and shall preserve as much\nof the structural integrity of the commercially published printed\ninstructional material as possible.\n (f) "Specialized format" means braille, audio, or digital text that is\nexclusively for use by blind persons and students with other\ndisabilities.\n (g) "Advisory council", means a group of individuals appointed as\nfollows: seven shall be appointed directly by the governor, two shall be\nappointed on the nomination of the temporary president of the senate,\ntwo shall be appointed on the nomination of the speaker of the assembly,\none shall be appointed on the nomination of the minority leader of the\nsenate, and one shall be appointed on the nomination of the minority\nleader of the assembly. The council shall be comprised of\nrepresentatives from college disability student support services; the\ndepartment; the publisher community; students with disabilities and\nother interested parties who will provide input into policy development,\nprogram guidelines and implementation strategies for the implementation\nof this section, and updates and technical assistance to regional\ncollege disability service coordinators.\n (h) "Guidelines" means a set of information, training, technical\nguidance and best practices used in implementing the provisions of this\nsection.\n Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to prohibit a college\nfrom assisting a student with a disability by using the electronic\nversion of commercially published printed instructional material\nprovided pursuant to this section solely to transcribe or arrange for\nthe transcription of the commercially published printed instructional\nmaterial into braille. In the event such a transcription is made, the\ncollege shall have the right to share such braille copy of the\ncommercially published printed instructional material with other\nstudents with disabilities.\n 2. An individual, firm, partnership or corporation that publishes or\nmanufactures commercially published printed instructional materials for\nstudents attending college shall provide for purchase by students with\ndisabilities such printed instructional material in an electronic format\nmutually agreed upon by the commercial publisher or manufacturer and the\ncommissioner. These commercially published printed instructional\nmaterials must be converted to an electronic format using the most\nupdated software technology available to the public at that time.\nComputer files or electronic versions of commercially published printed\ninstructional materials shall maintain the structural integrity of such\nprinted instructional material, be compatible with commonly used braille\ntranslation and speech synthesis software, and include corrections and\nrevisions as may be necessary. The computer files or electronic versions\nof the commercially published printed instructional material shall be\navailable to students with disabilities at a cost comparable to the\nprinted version of such commercially published material and in a timely\nmanner, upon receipt of a written request that does all of the\nfollowing:\n (a) Certifies that the electronic version of the commercially\npublished printed instructional materials will be used by a student with\na disability.\n (b) Certifies that the student has a disability that prevents him or\nher from using standard commercially published instructional materials.\n (c) Certifies that the commercially published printed instructional\nmaterial is for use by the student in connection with a course in which\nhe or she is registered or enrolled at the college.\n (d) Is signed by the coordinator of services for students with\ndisabilities at the college or by the campus or college official\nresponsible for monitoring compliance with the Americans with\nDisabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.) at the college.\n 3. An individual, firm, partnership or corporation specified in\nsubdivision two of this section may also require that, in addition to\nthe conditions enumerated above, the request shall include a statement\nsigned by the student agreeing to both of the following:\n (a) He or she will use the electronic copy of the commercially\npublished printed instructional material in specialized format solely\nfor his or her own educational purposes.\n (b) He or she will not copy or duplicate the commercially published\nprinted instructional material or electronic copy for use by others\nconsistent with the requirements of the copyright revision act of 1976,\nas amended (17 U.S.C. §101 et seq.).\n 4. If a college permits a student to directly use the electronic\nversion of a commercially published instructional material, such student\nshall use the disk or file in a manner that complies at all times with\nthe Copyright Revisions Act of 1976, as amended (17 U.S.C. Sec. 101 et\nseq.).\n 5. An individual, firm, partnership or corporation that, for\ncommercial purposes, publishes or manufactures nonprinted instructional\nmaterials for students attending college shall provide computer files or\nother electronic versions of such nonprinted instructional materials for\nuse by students attending such college subject to the same conditions\nset forth in subdivisions two and three of this section for printed\ninstructional materials, when technology is available to convert these\nnonprinted instructional materials published or manufactured for\ncommercial purposes to a format that maintains the structural integrity\nof such nonprinted instructional materials that is compatible with\nbraille translation and speech synthesis software.\n 6. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to authorize any use of any\ncommercially published instructional materials that would constitute an\ninfringement of copyright under the Copyright Revision Act of 1976, as\namended (17 U.S.C. Sec. 101 et seq.).\n 7. The governor shall convene a statewide advisory council as defined\nin paragraph (g) of subdivision one of this section that will meet as\nnecessary to fulfill the functions set forth in paragraph (g) of\nsubdivision one of this section.\n * NB Repealed August 15, 2028\n