NY Educ L § 715 (2021)
2021 New York Laws EDN - Education Title 1 - General Provisions Article 15-B - Higher Education Textbooks 715 - Instructional Materials; Students With Disabilities.

* §  715.  Instructional materials; students with disabilities. 1. For purposes of this section, the following words shall have  the  following meanings:  (a)  "College" means college as defined in subdivision two of section six hundred one of this chapter;  (b) "Instructional material or materials" means  textbooks  and  other materials  written  and published by commercial publishers primarily for use by students  in  postsecondary  instruction  that  are  required  or essential to a student's success in a course of study in which a student with  a disability is enrolled. The determination of which materials are "required or  essential  to  student  success"  shall  be  made  by  the instructor  of  the  course. "Instructional material or materials" shall also include commercially published nontextual mathematics  and  science material  wherever available software permits the conversion of existing electronic files of the materials into a format that is compatible  with braille  translation  software  or  alternative  media for students with disabilities.  (c) "Nonprinted instructional materials" means commercially  published instructional  materials  in  formats  other  than  print,  and includes commercially  published  instructional  materials   that   require   the availability  of  electronic equipment in order to be used as a learning resource,  including,  but  not  necessarily  limited  to,  commercially published software programs, video disks, and video and audio tapes.  (d)  "Printed instructional material or materials" means instructional material  or  materials  commercially  published  in   book   or   other commercially published printed form.  (e)  "Structural  integrity"  means  all of the commercially published printed instructional material, including, but not limited to, the  text of  the  material, sidebars, the table of contents, chapter headings and subheadings,  footnotes,  pictures,   illustrations,   graphs,   charts, indexes,  glossaries,  and bibliographies. If good faith efforts fail to produce an agreement pursuant to subdivision two of this section between the publisher or manufacturer and the commissioner as to  an  electronic format  that  will preserve the structural integrity of the commercially published printed instructional material, the publisher or  manufacturer shall  provide the instructional material in the most updated electronic format taking into consideration the recommendation made by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and shall preserve as  much of  the  structural  integrity  of  the  commercially  published printed instructional material as possible.  (f) "Specialized format" means braille, audio, or digital text that is exclusively  for  use  by  blind  persons  and   students   with   other disabilities.  (g)  "Advisory  council",  means  a  group of individuals appointed as follows: seven shall be appointed directly by the governor, two shall be appointed on the nomination of the temporary president  of  the  senate, two shall be appointed on the nomination of the speaker of the assembly, one  shall  be appointed on the nomination of the minority leader of the senate, and one shall be appointed on the  nomination  of  the  minority leader   of   the   assembly.   The   council   shall  be  comprised  of representatives from college disability student  support  services;  the department;  the  publisher  community;  students  with disabilities and other interested parties who will provide input into policy development, program guidelines and implementation strategies for the  implementation of  this  section,  and  updates  and  technical  assistance to regional college disability service coordinators.  (h) "Guidelines" means  a  set  of  information,  training,  technical guidance  and best practices used in implementing the provisions of this section.    Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to prohibit  a  college from  assisting  a  student  with  a  disability by using the electronic version  of  commercially  published  printed   instructional   material provided  pursuant  to  this section solely to transcribe or arrange for the  transcription  of  the commercially published printed instructional material into braille. In the event such a transcription  is  made,  the college  shall  have  the  right  to  share  such  braille  copy  of the commercially  published  printed  instructional  material   with   other students with disabilities.   2.  An  individual, firm, partnership or corporation that publishes or manufactures commercially published printed instructional materials  for students  attending  college shall provide for purchase by students with disabilities such printed instructional material in an electronic format mutually agreed upon by the commercial publisher or manufacturer and the commissioner.  These  commercially   published   printed   instructional materials  must  be  converted  to  an  electronic format using the most updated software technology  available  to  the  public  at  that  time. Computer  files or electronic versions of commercially published printed instructional materials shall maintain the structural integrity of  such printed instructional material, be compatible with commonly used braille translation  and  speech synthesis software, and include corrections and revisions as may be necessary. The computer files or electronic versions of the commercially published printed instructional  material  shall  be available  to  students  with  disabilities  at a cost comparable to the printed version of such commercially published material and in a  timely manner,  upon  receipt  of  a  written  request  that  does  all  of the following:  (a)  Certifies  that  the  electronic  version  of  the   commercially published printed instructional materials will be used by a student with a disability.  (b)  Certifies  that the student has a disability that prevents him or her from using standard commercially published instructional materials.  (c) Certifies that the commercially  published  printed  instructional material  is for use by the student in connection with a course in which he or she is registered or enrolled at the college.  (d) Is signed  by  the  coordinator  of  services  for  students  with disabilities  at  the  college  or  by  the  campus  or college official responsible  for  monitoring  compliance   with   the   Americans   with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.) at the college.   3.  An  individual,  firm,  partnership  or  corporation  specified in subdivision two of this section may also require that,  in  addition  to the  conditions  enumerated above, the request shall include a statement signed by the student agreeing to both of the following:  (a) He or she  will  use  the  electronic  copy  of  the  commercially published  printed  instructional  material in specialized format solely for his or her own educational purposes.  (b) He or she will not copy or duplicate  the  commercially  published printed  instructional  material  or  electronic  copy for use by others consistent with the requirements of the copyright revision act of  1976, as amended (17 U.S.C. §101 et seq.).   4.  If  a  college  permits  a  student to directly use the electronic version of a commercially published instructional material, such student shall use the disk or file in a manner that complies at all  times  with the  Copyright  Revisions Act of 1976, as amended (17 U.S.C. Sec. 101 et seq.).   5.  An  individual,  firm,  partnership  or  corporation   that,   for commercial  purposes, publishes or manufactures nonprinted instructional materials for students attending college shall provide computer files or  other electronic versions of such nonprinted instructional materials for use by students attending such college subject to  the  same  conditions set  forth  in  subdivisions  two  and three of this section for printed instructional  materials,  when technology is available to convert these nonprinted  instructional  materials  published  or   manufactured   for commercial  purposes to a format that maintains the structural integrity of such nonprinted  instructional  materials  that  is  compatible  with braille translation and speech synthesis software.   6. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to authorize any use of any commercially  published instructional materials that would constitute an infringement of copyright under the Copyright Revision Act of  1976,  as amended (17 U.S.C. Sec. 101 et seq.).   7.  The governor shall convene a statewide advisory council as defined in paragraph (g) of subdivision one of this section that  will  meet  as necessary  to  fulfill  the  functions  set  forth  in  paragraph (g) of subdivision one of this section.   * NB Repealed August 15, 2022