Bill Text: HI SB607 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating To Access To Instructional Materials.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2023-12-11 - Carried over to 2024 Regular Session. [SB607 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2024-SB607-Introduced.html
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
607 |
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THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to Access To Instructional Materials.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
The legislature further finds that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, P.L. 108-446, made important amendments to existing federal law, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and United States copyright law, with amendments to the former, including the establishment of a National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) designed to facilitate timely access to alternate formats of print instructional materials for students with visual impairments or other print disabilities; and the establishment of the National Instructional Materials Access Center, a federally funded national online repository of K-12 instructional materials in NIMAS source-file format that may be utilized by its users to produce instructional materials in alternative formats, including braille, large print, and digital text.
The legislature also finds that existing state law requires publishers who sell textbooks and instruction materials to the State or any public school to furnish computer diskettes for literary and certain nonliterary subjects in the American Standard Code for Information Interchange, or ASCII, which is a character encoding standard for electronic communication that is now obsolete.
Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to update existing state law to ensure that eligible students who need instructional materials in accessible formats receive them in a timely manner in accordance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and United States copyright law, as amended.
SECTION 2. Chapter 302A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"§302A- Instructional
materials; accessible format; individualized education program. (a) The State adopts the National Instructional
Materials Accessibility Standard for the purposes of providing instructional
materials to eligible students in a timely manner, pursuant to section
612(a)(23) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, codified at
title 20 United States Code section 1412(a)(23). The department shall coordinate with the
National Instructional Materials Access Center to provide the required information
thereto and use the information and services made available thereby.
(b) The department, as part of any print
instructional materials adoption process, procurement contract, or other
practice or instrument used for purchase of print instructional materials,
shall:
(1) Require publishers of print instructional
materials sold to the State or to any public elementary school or public secondary
school in the State, to furnish the department with the instructional materials
produced in or that may be rendered in accessible formats, which are appropriate
for use by eligible students currently attending a public elementary school or
public secondary school and using the instructional material; provided that the
department shall pay to the publisher the cost incurred by the publisher in preparing
the alternative formats; and
(2) If a publishers of print
instructional materials sold to the State or to any public elementary school or
public secondary school in the State cannot furnish the department with the
publisher's print instructional materials in the alternative forms required in paragraph
(1), the department shall enter into a written contract with the publisher to require
the publisher to prepare and, on or before delivery of the print instructional
materials, provide to the National Instructional Materials Access Center electronic
files containing the contents of the print instructional materials using the
National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard.
(c)
The department may, upon request from any
elementary school or secondary school that is not a public school or from any
alternative educational program, assist the school or program in obtaining instructional
materials produced in or that may be rendered in accessible formats that are
appropriate for use by eligible students currently attending the school or participating
in the program; provided that the department shall not pay for the cost of the instructional
materials produced in alternative formats.
(d)
All elementary schools, secondary schools,
and alternative educational programs in the State shall, at the same time print
instructional materials are provided to other students, provide each eligible
student attending the school or participating in the program with:
(1) Instructional materials in an
accessible format that is most appropriate to the content of the instructional material
and the needs of the eligible student, as set forth in the eligible student's
individualized education program; and
(2) Any assistive technology device and
assistive technology service needed for the eligible student to access and use
the instructional materials in accessible format.
(e) All elementary schools, secondary schools,
and alternative educational programs in the State shall provide each eligible
student attending the school or participating in program who is receiving any technology
mediated instruction, with technology, including any assistive technology
device and assistive technology service, needed to access and receive the
instruction.
(f)
The individualized education program for
an eligible student attending an elementary school or secondary school in the
State or an eligible student participating in an alternative educational
program in the State shall:
(1) Include information sufficient to document
approval of the student as an "eligible person" as
defined in section 121(d)(3) of the United States copyright law, codified at
title 17 United States Code section 121(d)(3));
(2) Identify:
(A) The print instructional materials to
be used by students without disabilities to achieve grade level progress,
including posters, bulletin boards, and audiovisual presentations;
(B) All accessible formats of the instructional
materials identified under subparagraph (B); and
(C) Instructions to be provided to
enable the eligible student to achieve grade level progress using instructional
materials in one or more formats accessible to and usable by the eligible
student;
(3) If the eligible student is
blind and is receiving instruction in braille or uses braille, require instructional
materials to be provided in braille, which may be used by the eligible student
in addition to other accessible formats available;
(4) Identify all assistive
technology devices and assistive technology services needed for the eligible
student to use instructional materials and receive technology mediated
instructions in accessible formats, and require timely and appropriate
instructions to be provided to the eligible student to allow the use of the
technology to access age-appropriate content independently;
(5) Identify technology to be used by the
eligible student to receive technology mediated instructions, including any
assistive technology device and assistive technology service, needed for the
technology to be accessible to and usable by the eligible student; and
(6) Ensure that any assistive technology
device and assistive technology service used for instructional materials in
accessible formats is available for use by the eligible student in school, at
home, and in other settings to the same extent that print instructional
materials are available to other students.
(g) The department shall adopt rules in
accordance with chapter 91 to implement this section.
(h) As used in this section, unless the context
clearly indicates otherwise:
"Accessible
format" means the same as defined in section 121(d) of the United States
copyright law, codified at title 17
United States Code section 121(d).
"Alternative
educational program" means an alternative educational program that is
approved by the superintendent or the superintendent's authorized
representative pursuant to section 302A-1132(a)(5).
"Assistive
technology device" means the same as defined in section 602 of the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act, codified at title 20 United States
Code section 1401.
"Assistive
technology service" means the same as defined in section 602 of the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act, codified at title 20 United States
Code section 1401.
"Braille"
means the system of reading and writing by touch, commonly known as Unified
English Braille.
"Eligible
student" means a student who is:
(1) Attending
any elementary school or secondary school in the State, including:
(A) Any public elementary school or public secondary school;
(B) Any private elementary school or private secondary school that
falls within the definition of private school in section 302A-1132(d); and
(C) Any alternative education program;
(2) Eligible for services under the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act; and
(3) Approved as an "eligible
person", as defined in section 121(d)(3) of the United States copyright
law, codified at title 17 United States Code section 121(d)(3).
"Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act" means the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act, P.L. 101-476, as amended, codified at title 20 United States
Code sections 1400 et seq.
"National
Instructional Materials Access Center" means the center established by the
United States Secretary of Education pursuant to title 20 United States Code
section 1474(e)(1).
"National
Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard" means the standard to be
used in the preparation of electronic files suitable and used solely for
efficient conversion into specialized formats, established by the United States
Secretary of Education pursuant to title 20 United States Code section
1474(e)(3) and published as appendix C to title 34 Code of Federal Regulations,
part 300.
"Print
instructional materials" means printed textbooks and related printed core
materials that are written and published primarily for use in elementary and
secondary school instruction and are required by the department for use by
students in the classroom. "Print
instructional materials" include digital and electronic versions of the
printed textbooks and related printed core materials that are not in National
Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard format.
"Public
elementary school" means any elementary school that falls within the
definition of public schools in section 302A‑101, including public
charter schools.
"Public
secondary school" means any elemental school that falls within the
definition of public schools in section 302A‑101, including public
charter schools.
"Technology
mediated instruction" means an instruction that uses digital or
computer-based technology to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge by
students."
SECTION 3. Section 302A-442.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is repealed.
["§302A-442.5 Instructional materials; exceptional
children. (a) Whenever used in this section, unless a
different meaning clearly appears from the context:
"Braille"
means the system of reading and writing through touch commonly known as
standard English braille.
(b) All publishers of textbooks and instructional
materials sold to the State or any public school shall furnish computer
diskettes for literary subjects in the American Standard Code for Information
Interchange from which braille versions can be produced. Publishers shall also furnish computer
diskettes in American Standard Code for Information Interchange for nonliterary
subjects including natural sciences, computer science, mathematics, and music
when braille specialty code translation software is available.
(c) This section shall not apply to publishers of
textbooks and instructional materials written in the Hawaiian language."]
SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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Report Title:
Deaf and Blind Task Force; Instructional Materials; National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard; National Instructional Materials Access Center; Department of Education
Description:
Adopts the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard for the purposes of providing instructional materials to eligible students in a timely manner and requires the Department of Education to coordinate with the National Instructional Materials Access Center. Authorizes the Department to assist non-public elementary and secondary school and alternative educational program in obtaining accessible instructional materials. Requires all elementary schools, secondary schools, and alternative educational programs to provide eligible students with accessible instructional materials, assistive technology devices, and assistive technology services at the same time print instructional materials are provided to other students.
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
