N.Y. Education Law § 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, 2028