* § 715. Instructional materials; students with disabilities. 1. For
purposes of this section, the following words shall have the following
meanings: (a) "College" means college as defined in subdivision two of
section six hundred one of this chapter;

(b) "Instructional material or materials" means textbooks and other
materials written and published by commercial publishers primarily for
use by students in postsecondary instruction that are required or
essential to a student's success in a course of study in which a student
with a disability is enrolled. The determination of which materials are
"required or essential to student success" shall be made by the
instructor of the course. "Instructional material or materials" shall
also include commercially published nontextual mathematics and science
material wherever available software permits the conversion of existing
electronic files of the materials into a format that is compatible with
braille translation software or alternative media for students with
disabilities.

(c) "Nonprinted instructional materials" means commercially published
instructional materials in formats other than print, and includes
commercially published instructional materials that require the
availability of electronic equipment in order to be used as a learning
resource, including, but not necessarily limited to, commercially
published software programs, video disks, and video and audio tapes.

(d) "Printed instructional material or materials" means instructional
material or materials commercially published in book or other
commercially published printed form.

(e) "Structural integrity" means all of the commercially published
printed instructional material, including, but not limited to, the text
of the material, sidebars, the table of contents, chapter headings and
subheadings, footnotes, pictures, illustrations, graphs, charts,
indexes, glossaries, and bibliographies. If good faith efforts fail to
produce an agreement pursuant to subdivision two of this section between
the publisher or manufacturer and the commissioner as to an electronic
format that will preserve the structural integrity of the commercially
published printed instructional material, the publisher or manufacturer
shall provide the instructional material in the most updated electronic
format taking into consideration the recommendation made by the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and shall preserve as much
of the structural integrity of the commercially published printed
instructional material as possible.

(f) "Specialized format" means braille, audio, or digital text that is
exclusively for use by blind persons and students with other
disabilities.

(g) "Advisory council", means a group of individuals appointed as
follows: seven shall be appointed directly by the governor, two shall be
appointed on the nomination of the temporary president of the senate,
two shall be appointed on the nomination of the speaker of the assembly,
one shall be appointed on the nomination of the minority leader of the
senate, and one shall be appointed on the nomination of the minority
leader of the assembly. The council shall be comprised of
representatives from college disability student support services; the
department; the publisher community; students with disabilities and
other interested parties who will provide input into policy development,
program guidelines and implementation strategies for the implementation
of this section, and updates and technical assistance to regional
college disability service coordinators.

(h) "Guidelines" means a set of information, training, technical
guidance and best practices used in implementing the provisions of this
section.

Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to prohibit a college
from assisting a student with a disability by using the electronic
version of commercially published printed instructional material
provided pursuant to this section solely to transcribe or arrange for
the transcription of the commercially published printed instructional
material into braille. In the event such a transcription is made, the
college shall have the right to share such braille copy of the
commercially published printed instructional material with other
students with disabilities.

2. An individual, firm, partnership or corporation that publishes or
manufactures commercially published printed instructional materials for
students attending college shall provide for purchase by students with
disabilities such printed instructional material in an electronic format
mutually agreed upon by the commercial publisher or manufacturer and the
commissioner. These commercially published printed instructional
materials must be converted to an electronic format using the most
updated software technology available to the public at that time.
Computer files or electronic versions of commercially published printed
instructional materials shall maintain the structural integrity of such
printed instructional material, be compatible with commonly used braille
translation and speech synthesis software, and include corrections and
revisions as may be necessary. The computer files or electronic versions
of the commercially published printed instructional material shall be
available to students with disabilities at a cost comparable to the
printed version of such commercially published material and in a timely
manner, upon receipt of a written request that does all of the
following:

(a) Certifies that the electronic version of the commercially
published printed instructional materials will be used by a student with
a disability.

(b) Certifies that the student has a disability that prevents him or
her from using standard commercially published instructional materials.

(c) Certifies that the commercially published printed instructional
material is for use by the student in connection with a course in which
he or she is registered or enrolled at the college.

(d) Is signed by the coordinator of services for students with
disabilities at the college or by the campus or college official
responsible for monitoring compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.) at the college.

3. An individual, firm, partnership or corporation specified in
subdivision two of this section may also require that, in addition to
the conditions enumerated above, the request shall include a statement
signed by the student agreeing to both of the following:

(a) He or she will use the electronic copy of the commercially
published printed instructional material in specialized format solely
for his or her own educational purposes.

(b) He or she will not copy or duplicate the commercially published
printed instructional material or electronic copy for use by others
consistent with the requirements of the copyright revision act of 1976,
as amended (17 U.S.C. §101 et seq.).

4. If a college permits a student to directly use the electronic
version of a commercially published instructional material, such student
shall use the disk or file in a manner that complies at all times with
the Copyright Revisions Act of 1976, as amended (17 U.S.C. Sec. 101 et
seq.).

5. An individual, firm, partnership or corporation that, for
commercial purposes, publishes or manufactures nonprinted instructional
materials for students attending college shall provide computer files or
other electronic versions of such nonprinted instructional materials for
use by students attending such college subject to the same conditions
set forth in subdivisions two and three of this section for printed
instructional materials, when technology is available to convert these
nonprinted instructional materials published or manufactured for
commercial purposes to a format that maintains the structural integrity
of such nonprinted instructional materials that is compatible with
braille translation and speech synthesis software.

6. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to authorize any use of any
commercially published instructional materials that would constitute an
infringement of copyright under the Copyright Revision Act of 1976, as
amended (17 U.S.C. Sec. 101 et seq.).

7. The governor shall convene a statewide advisory council as defined
in paragraph (g) of subdivision one of this section that will meet as
necessary to fulfill the functions set forth in paragraph (g) of
subdivision one of this section.

* NB Repealed August 15, 2025