101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2019 and 2020
HB4924

 

Introduced 2/18/2020, by Rep. Grant Wehrli

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
110 ILCS 205/9.39 new
110 ILCS 805/2-27 new

    Amends the Board of Higher Education Act and the Public Community College Act. Requires the governing board of each public university and community college district to annually submit to the Board of Higher Education or the Illinois Community College Board a plan to expand the use of open educational resources, open textbooks, and commercial digital learning materials in order to achieve savings for students enrolled in the institution of higher education. Requires the Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Community College Board to review the plans and report their findings and recommendations to the General Assembly. Effective June 1, 2020.


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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

HB4924LRB101 18408 NHT 67856 b

1    AN ACT concerning education.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Board of Higher Education Act is amended by
5adding Section 9.39 as follows:
 
6    (110 ILCS 205/9.39 new)
7    Sec. 9.39. Open educational resources report.
8    (a) As used in this Section:
9    "Open copyright license" means a world-wide, royalty-free,
10non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable copyright license
11granting the public permission to access, reproduce, publicly
12perform, publicly display, adapt, distribute, and otherwise
13use a work and adaptations of the work for any purpose,
14conditioned only on the requirement that attribution be given
15to authors as designated.
16    "Open educational resource" means a teaching, learning, or
17research resource that is offered freely to users in at least
18one form and that either resides in the public domain or has
19been released under an open copyright license that allows for
20its free use, reuse, modification, and sharing with
21attribution.
22    "Open textbook" means an open educational resource or set
23of open educational resources that either is a textbook or can

 

 

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1be used in place of a textbook for a postsecondary course at an
2institution of higher education.
3    (b) Within one year after the effective date of this
4amendatory Act of the 101st General Assembly, the Boards of
5Trustees of the University of Illinois, Southern Illinois
6University, Chicago State University, Eastern Illinois
7University, Governors State University, Illinois State
8University, Northeastern Illinois University, Northern
9Illinois University, and Western Illinois University, after
10consultation with faculty members at their universities, shall
11annually submit to the Board of Higher Education a plan to
12expand the use of open educational resources, open textbooks,
13and commercial digital learning materials in order to achieve
14savings for students enrolled in their universities. The plan
15may include strategies employed by the university during the
16previous academic year.
17    (c) The Board shall review the plans submitted by the
18Boards of Trustees to ensure that each plan has the potential
19to:
20        (1) achieve the highest level of savings for students
21    through the sustainable and expanded use of open textbooks
22    in courses offered by the university;
23        (2) produce the highest quality open textbooks that can
24    be most easily utilized and adapted by faculty members at
25    the university and that correspond to the highest
26    enrollment courses at the institution;

 

 

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1        (3) ensure that the full and complete digital content
2    of each open textbook created or adapted in accordance with
3    the plan is made available to students enrolled in the
4    university:
5            (A) on the university's college bookstore website
6        in an easily accessible location; and
7            (B) in a machine readable, digital format that a
8        student can download;
9        (4) ensure that the university is making a good faith
10    effort to provide open educational resources and open
11    textbooks to students; and
12        (5) provide for the implementation of programs that
13    reduce the cost of commercial digital learning materials.
14    (d) The Board shall, in consultation with the Illinois
15Community College Board, report its findings and
16recommendations concerning open educational resource programs
17to the General Assembly by filing electronic or paper copies of
18its report by December 31 of each year as provided in Section
193.1 of the General Assembly Organization Act. The first report
20shall be filed no later than December 31, 2021.
 
21    Section 10. The Public Community College Act is amended by
22adding Section 2-27 as follows:
 
23    (110 ILCS 805/2-27 new)
24    Sec. 2-27. Open educational resources report.

 

 

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1    (a) As used in this Section:
2    "Open copyright license" means a world-wide, royalty-free,
3non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable copyright license
4granting the public permission to access, reproduce, publicly
5perform, publicly display, adapt, distribute, and otherwise
6use a work and adaptations of the work for any purpose,
7conditioned only on the requirement that attribution be given
8to authors as designated.
9    "Open educational resource" means a teaching, learning, or
10research resource that is offered freely to users in at least
11one form and that either resides in the public domain or has
12been released under an open copyright license that allows for
13its free use, reuse, modification, and sharing with
14attribution.
15    "Open textbook" means an open educational resource or set
16of open educational resources that either is a textbook or can
17be used in place of a textbook for a postsecondary course at an
18institution of higher education.
19    (b) Within one year after the effective date of this
20amendatory Act of the 101st General Assembly, each board of
21trustees shall, after consultation with faculty members at the
22community college, annually submit to the State Board a plan to
23expand the use of open educational resources, open textbooks,
24and commercial digital learning materials in order to achieve
25savings for students enrolled in the community college. The
26plan may include strategies employed by the community college

 

 

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1during the previous academic year.
2    (c) The State Board shall review the plans submitted by the
3boards of trustees to ensure that each plan has the potential
4to:
5        (1) achieve the highest level of savings for students
6    through the sustainable and expanded use of open textbooks
7    in courses offered by the community college;
8        (2) produce the highest quality open textbooks that can
9    be most easily utilized and adapted by faculty members at
10    the community college and that correspond to the highest
11    enrollment courses at the institution;
12        (3) ensure that the full and complete digital content
13    of each open textbook created or adapted in accordance with
14    the plan is made available to students enrolled in the
15    community college:
16            (A) on the community college's college bookstore
17        website in an easily accessible location; and
18            (B) in a machine readable, digital format that a
19        student can download;
20        (4) ensure that the community college is making a good
21    faith effort to provide open educational resources and open
22    textbooks to students; and
23        (5) provide for the implementation of programs that
24    reduce the cost of commercial digital learning materials.
25    (d) The State Board shall, in consultation with the Board
26of Higher Education, report its findings and recommendations

 

 

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1concerning open educational resource programs to the General
2Assembly by filing electronic or paper copies of its report by
3December 31 of each year as provided in Section 3.1 of the
4General Assembly Organization Act. The first report shall be
5filed no later than December 31, 2021.
 
6    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect June 1,
72020.