S.B. No. 1784
AN ACT
relating to 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 allows for free use, reuse, modification, and sharing
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 31.071(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 3. 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. Instructional
material purchased under this subchapter 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 under a license that:
(A) grants the state unlimited authority to
modify, delete, combine, or add content;
(B) permits the free use and repurposing of the
material by any person or entity; and
(C) is for a term of use acceptable to the
commissioner to ensure a useful life of the material.
SECTION 4. Section 31.075, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (b) and (c) and adding Subsections (d), (e),
(f), (g), and (h) to read as follows:
(b) To encourage the use of instructional material
purchased by the state under this subchapter by school districts
and open-enrollment charter schools, the [The] commissioner shall
provide a license for the instructional material that allows for
the free use, reuse, modification, or sharing of the material by any
person or entity [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) The terms of a license provided by the commissioner
under this section:
(1) shall require that a user who reproduces the
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) to the extent reasonably practicable, must
provide in any product or derivative material a uniform resource
identifier or hyperlink through which a person may obtain the
material free of charge;
(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; and
(3) may include any additional terms determined by the
commissioner [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 may exempt a license under this section
from including one or more of the requirements under Subsection
(c)(1).
(e) The commissioner shall determine what is considered
reasonably practicable for purposes of Subsections (c)(1)(E) and
(c)(2)(A).
(f) 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.
(g) The commissioner may use a license commonly applied to
an open education resource in implementing this section.
(h) The attorney general shall represent the agency in an
action brought under this section and may recover reasonable
expenses incurred in obtaining relief, including court costs,
reasonable attorney's fees, investigative costs, witness fees, and
deposition costs.
SECTION 5. 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 6. Section 31.077, Education Code, is repealed.
SECTION 7. The commissioner of education may apply the
changes in law made by this Act to instructional material purchased
by the state under Subchapter B-1, Chapter 31, Education Code,
regardless of whether the instructional material was purchased
before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.
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.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1784 passed the Senate on
April 26, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0;
May 26, 2017, Senate refused to concur in House amendments and
requested appointment of Conference Committee; May 27, 2017, House
granted request of the Senate; May 28, 2017, Senate adopted
Conference Committee Report by the following vote: Yeas 30,
Nays 1.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1784 passed the House, with
amendments, on May 22, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 146,
Nays 0, one present not voting; May 27, 2017, House granted request
of the Senate for appointment of Conference Committee;
May 28, 2017, House adopted Conference Committee Report by the
following vote: Yeas 144, Nays 0, two present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor