By: Taylor of Galveston S.B. No. 1784
(Huberty)
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.