By: Taylor of Galveston  S.B. No. 1784
         (In the Senate - Filed March 9, 2017; March 23, 2017, read
  first time and referred to Committee on Education; April 18, 2017,
  reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the
  following vote:  Yeas 10, Nays 0; April 18, 2017, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1784 By:  Taylor of Galveston
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to state-developed open-source instructional material for
  public schools.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 31.002(1-a), Education Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
               (1-a)  "Open-source instructional material" means
  teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the
  public domain or have been released under an intellectual property
  license that permits the free use, reuse, modification, and sharing
  of the resource with others, including full courses, course
  materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software,
  and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support
  access to knowledge. [electronic instructional material that is
  available for downloading from the Internet at no charge to a
  student and without requiring the purchase of an unlock code,
  membership, or other access or use charge, except for a charge to
  order an optional printed copy of all or part of the instructional
  material.]  The term includes state-developed open-source
  instructional material purchased under Subchapter B-1.
         SECTION 2.  Section 31.021(c), Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (c)  Money in the state instructional materials fund shall be
  used to:
               (1)  fund the instructional materials allotment, as
  provided by Section 31.0211;
               (2)  purchase special instructional materials for the
  education of blind and visually impaired students in public
  schools;
               (3)  pay the expenses associated with the instructional
  materials adoption and review process under this chapter;
               (4)  pay the expenses associated with the purchase or
  licensing of open-source instructional material;
               (5)  pay the expenses associated with the purchase of
  instructional material, including intrastate freight and shipping
  and the insurance expenses associated with intrastate freight and
  shipping; and
               (6)  [fund the technology lending grant program
  established under Section 32.201; and
               [(7)]  provide funding to the Texas School for the
  Blind and Visually Impaired, the Texas School for the Deaf, and the
  Texas Juvenile Justice Department.
         SECTION 3.  Section 31.071(c), Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (c)  Except as provided by Section 31.0711, a
  state-developed [State-developed] open-source instructional
  material must be irrevocably owned by [or licensed to] the state
  [for use in the applicable subject or grade level].  The state must
  have unlimited authority to modify, delete, combine, or add content
  to the instructional material after purchase.
         SECTION 4.  Subchapter B-1, Chapter 31, Education Code, is
  amended by adding Section 31.0711 to read as follows:
         Sec. 31.0711.  CONTENT NOT OWNED BY STATE. (a)  A
  state-developed open-source instructional material may include
  content not owned by the state and for which preexisting rights may
  exist if the content:
               (1)  is in the public domain;
               (2)  may be used under a limitation or exception to
  copyright law, including a limitation under Section 107, Copyright
  Act of 1976 (17 U.S.C. Section 107); or
               (3)  is licensed to the state for use in an open-source
  instructional material.
         (b)  A license described by Subsection (a)(3) must:
               (1)  grant the state unlimited authority to modify,
  delete, combine, or add content; and
               (2)  permit the free use and repurposing of the
  material by any person.
         SECTION 5.  Section 31.075, Education Code, is amended by
  amending Subsections (b) and (c) and adding Subsections (d), (e),
  and (f) to read as follows:
         (b)  To encourage the use of state-developed open-source
  instructional materials by school districts and open-enrollment
  charter schools, the [The] commissioner shall provide a license for
  a state-developed open-source instructional material that allows
  for the free use, reuse, modification, or sharing of the material by
  any person [to each public school in the state, including a school
  district, an open-enrollment charter school, and a state or local
  agency educating students in any grade from prekindergarten through
  high school, to use and reproduce state-developed open-source
  instructional material].
         (c)  A license provided by the commissioner under this
  section:
               (1)  unless exempted by the commissioner, shall require
  that a user who reproduces a state-developed open-source
  instructional material in any manner:
                     (A)  except as provided by Subdivision (2)(A),
  must keep all copyright notices for the material intact;
                     (B)  except as provided by Subdivision (2)(A),
  must attribute the authorship of the material to the agency or
  another person specified by the commissioner;
                     (C)  must indicate if the user has modified the
  material;
                     (D)  may not assert or imply any connection with
  or sponsorship or endorsement by the agency or this state, unless
  authorized by the commissioner; and
                     (E)  must provide clear and conspicuous notice of
  how and where a person may obtain the material free of charge; and
               (2)  must provide that:
                     (A)  the commissioner may request that a user
  remove a copyright notice or attribution from the material and that
  a user must comply with the request to the extent reasonably
  practicable; and 
                     (B)  the rights granted under the license to a
  user are automatically terminated if the user fails to comply with
  the terms of the license [The commissioner may provide a license to
  use state-developed open-source instructional material to an
  entity not listed in Subsection (b).   In determining the cost of a
  license under this subsection, the commissioner shall seek, to the
  extent feasible, to recover the costs of developing, revising, and
  distributing state-developed open-source instructional
  materials].
         (d)  The commissioner shall determine what is considered
  reasonably practicable for purposes of Subsection (c)(2)(A).
         (e)  The commissioner may:
               (1)  specify requirements to reinstate a user's rights
  under a license that has been terminated; and
               (2)  reinstate a user's rights on completion of those
  requirements.
         (f)  The commissioner may use a license commonly applied to
  an open education resource in implementing this section.
         SECTION 6.  Section 31.076(b), Education Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (b)  A decision by the commissioner regarding the purchase,
  revision, cost, licensing, or distribution of state-developed
  open-source instructional material is final and may not be
  appealed.
         SECTION 7.  Section 31.077, Education Code, is repealed.
         SECTION 8.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
  a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
  provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
  Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
  Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
 
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