I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3505 

To direct the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board 

to develop accessibility guidelines for electronic instructional materials 

and related information technologies in institutions of higher education, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 15, 2013 

Mr. PETRI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To direct the Architectural and Transportation Barriers 

Compliance Board to develop accessibility guidelines for 

electronic instructional materials and related information 

technologies in institutions of higher education, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Technology, Equality 

5 and Accessibility in College and Higher Education Act’’ 

6 or the ‘‘TEACH Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GUIDELINES FOR ACCESSIBLE ELECTRONIC IN2 STRUCTIONAL MATERIALS AND RELATED IN3 FORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INSTITU4 TIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months after 

6 the date of enactment of this Act, the Architectural and 

7 Transportation Barriers Compliance Board established 

8 pursuant to section 502 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 

9 (29 U.S.C. 792) (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Access 

10 Board’’) shall develop guidelines for the accessibility of 

11 electronic instructional materials and related information 

12 technologies in institutions of higher education. Such 

13 guidelines shall— 

14 (1) include performance criteria to ensure that 

15 such materials and technologies are accessible to 

16 covered blind individuals and covered individuals 

17 with a disability; and 

18 (2) be consistent with the standards for tech19 nical and functional performance criteria issued pur20 suant to section 508(a)(2)(A)(ii) of the Rehabilita21 tion Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d(a)(2)(A)(ii)). 

22 (b) HARMONIZATION WITH NATIONAL AND INTER23 NATIONAL STANDARDS.—The Access Board shall, to the 

24 extent practicable, ensure that the guidelines issued under 

25 subsection (a) are consistent with national and interVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:51 Nov 16, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3505.IH H3505

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1 national accessibility standards for electronic instructional 

2 materials and related information technologies. 

3 (c) REVIEW AND AMENDMENT.—Not later than 3 

4 years after the effective date of the guidelines described 

5 in subsection (a), and every 3 years thereafter, the Access 

6 Board shall review and, as appropriate, amend such guide7 lines to reflect technological advances or changes in elec8 tronic instructional materials and related information 

9 technologies. 

10 SEC. 3. SAFE HARBOR PROTECTIONS. 

11 Institutions of higher education that use electronic 

12 instructional materials and related information tech13 nologies that comply with the accessibility guidelines de14 scribed in section 2 shall be deemed to be in compliance 

15 with the non-discrimination provisions section 504 of the 

16 Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794) and titles II 

17 and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 

18 (42 U.S.C. 12131 et seq., 42 U.S.C. 12181 et seq.) with 

19 respect to the use of such materials or technologies. 

20 SEC. 4. NONCOMPLIANT ELECTRONIC INSTRUCTIONAL MA21 TERIALS AND RELATED INFORMATION TECH22 NOLOGIES. 

23 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require an 

24 institution of higher education to use electronic instruc25 tional materials or related information technologies that 


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1 conform to the accessibility guidelines described in section 

2 2 if the institution of higher education provides such mate3 rials or technologies, or an accommodation or modifica4 tion, that would allow covered blind individuals and cov5 ered individuals with a disability to receive the educational 

6 benefits of such materials or technologies— 

7 (1) in an equally effective and equally inte8 grated manner as non-disabled or non-blind stu9 dents; and 

10 (2) with substantially equivalent ease of use of 

11 such materials or technologies. 

12 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

13 There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as 

14 may be necessary to carry out section 2 of this Act. 

15 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

16 In this Act the following definitions apply: 

17 (1) BLIND INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘blind indi18 vidual’’ means an individual whose central visual 

19 acuity does not exceed 20/200 in the better eye with 

20 correcting lenses or whose visual acuity, if better 

21 than 20/200, is accompanied by a limit to the field 

22 of vision in the better eye to such a degree that its 

23 widest diameter subtends an angle of no greater 

24 than 20 degrees. 


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1 (2) COVERED BLIND INDIVIDUAL AND COVERED

2 INDIVIDUAL WITH A DISABILITY.—The terms ‘‘cov3 ered blind individual’’ and ‘‘covered individual with 

4 a disability’’ mean a blind individual or an individual 

5 with a disability whose blindness or disability limits 

6 the ability of such individual to access electronic in7 structional materials and related information tech8 nologies. 

9 (3) DISABILITY.—The term ‘‘disability’’ has the 

10 meaning given such term in section 3 of the Ameri11 cans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 

12 12102). 

13 (4) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

14 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

15 meaning given such term in section 101 of the High16 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 

17 (5) ELECTRONIC INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL.— 

18 The term ‘‘electronic instructional material’’ means 

19 digital curricular content including course-assigned 

20 books, journals, articles, and web pages, used by stu21 dents, faculty, or administrative personnel of an in22 stitution of higher education to facilitate the teach23 ing and learning process, including technologies used 

24 in distance education as defined in section 103 of 


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1 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

2 1003). 

3 (6) RELATED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.— 

4 The term ‘‘related information technology’’— 

5 (A) means any electronic platform or deliv6 ery system used by students, faculty, or admin7 istrative personnel of an institution of higher 

8 education to access electronic instructional ma9 terials; and 

10 (B) includes any hardware, firmware, soft11 ware, and applications required for the manipu12 lation, annotation, and dissemination of such 

13 electronic instructional materials. 

Æ 


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