Bill Text: NJ S2619 | 2016-2017 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Requires institutions of higher education to develop open textbook plan.*

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-1)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2016-12-19 - Received in the Assembly, Referred to Assembly Higher Education Committee [S2619 Detail]

Download: New_Jersey-2016-S2619-Amended.html

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[First Reprint]

SENATE, No. 2619

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

217th LEGISLATURE

 

INTRODUCED OCTOBER 5, 2016

 

 

Sponsored by:

Senator  SANDRA B. CUNNINGHAM

District 31 (Hudson)

Senator  NILSA CRUZ-PEREZ

District 5 (Camden and Gloucester)

 

Co-Sponsored by:

Senator Ruiz

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Requires institutions of higher education to develop open textbooks available to students at no charge.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As reported by the Senate Higher Education Committee on October 20, 2016, with amendments.

  

An Act concerning college textbooks and supplementing chapter 3B of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.

 

     Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    As used in this act:

     "Open educational resource" means an educational resource that is licensed under an open license and made freely available online to the public.

     "Open license" means a world-wide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable copyright license granting the public permission to access, reproduce, publicly perform, publicly display, adapt, distribute, and otherwise use the work and adaptations of the work for any purpose, conditioned only on the requirement that attribution be given to authors as designated.

     "Open textbook" means an open educational resource or set of open educational resources that either is a textbook or can be used in place of a textbook for a postsecondary course at an institution of higher education.

 

     2.    a. Within 180 days of the effective date of P.L.    , c.   (C.        ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), ¹[a four-year public or independent] an¹ institution of higher education, after consultation with faculty members at the institution, shall submit a plan to the Secretary of Higher Education to expand the use of open textbooks ¹and commercial digital learning materials¹ in order to achieve savings for students enrolled in the institution.

     b.    The secretary shall review the plan submitted by an institution to ensure that the plan has the potential to:

     (1)   achieve the highest level of savings for students through the sustainable expanded use of open textbooks in courses offered by the institution;

     (2)   produce the highest quality open textbooks that can be most easily utilized and adapted by faculty members at the institution, and correspond to the highest enrollment courses at the institution;

     (3)   ensure that the full and complete digital content of each open textbook created or adapted in accordance with the plan is made available free-of-charge to students enrolled in the institution:

     (a)   on the institution's college bookstore website in an easily accessible location; and

     (b)   in a machine readable, digital format that a student can download; ¹[and]¹

     (4)   ensure that open textbooks are available to students by July 1, 2020 ¹; and

     (5)   provide for the implementation of programs which reduce the cost of commercial digital learning materials pursuant to 34 C.F.R. s.668.164(c)(2)¹.

 

     3.    This act shall take effect immediately.