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House Bill 3382 |
House Author: Naishtat et al. |
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Effective: 6-15-07 |
Senate Sponsor: Uresti |
House Bill 3382 amends the Education Code to require a college textbook publisher or manufacturer to provide a public college or university, on request, an electronic copy of a textbook assigned by that institution for use in a particular course to aid the institution in producing a Braille, large print, audio format, or digital text version of that textbook for use by a blind, visually impaired, or dyslexic student taking the course. The bill requires the publisher or manufacturer to provide the requested electronic copy not later than the 15th business day after the date it receives the request. The request must certify that for each student who will use special instructional material based on the requested electronic copy at the institution, either the institution or the student has purchased a printed copy of the textbook, and it must be signed by the person at the institution primarily responsible for services for students with disabilities. The bill includes both copyright protection and content requirement provisions for the requested electronic copy and the instructional material on which it is based, allows the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to impose a reasonable administrative penalty against a publisher or manufacturer that knowingly violates the law, and provides exceptions where a publisher or manufacturer is not required to comply with certain provisions of this law.