BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 386
AUTHOR: Ruskin
AMENDED: June 25, 2009
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: July 1, 2009
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : Postsecondary education: captioning of electronic
instructional
materials.
SUMMARY
This bill establishes a process whereby a public
postsecondary education institution requests, and receives
or creates a captioned format of electronic instructional
materials for students with hearing impairments.
BACKGROUND
Current law requires:
1) A publisher of printed instructional materials for
student attending the University of California, the
California State University or a California Community
College, to provide any printed instructional material
in an electronic format.
2) Non-printed instructional materials to be compatible
with Braille translation and speech synthesis software
but does not list "audiovisual captioning software."
Therefore, when captioning or other accessible
information is not already available on audiovisual or
other type of media, the college or university must
ask the publisher to provide the captioning to make
the information accessible to students.
ANALYSIS
This bill establishes a process whereby a public
postsecondary education institution requests, and receives
or creates a captioned format of electronic instructional
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materials for students with hearing impairments.
Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires a publisher that publishes instructional
materials used by students attending, or by
instructors for use in classroom presentations at, the
University of California, the California State
University, or a California Community College to, upon
request by an institution on behalf of a student or
instructor at that institution, to do one of the
following:
a) Provide access to a captioned format of the
instructional material directly to the student or
the instructor.
b) Provide to the institution a captioned
format of the instructional material.
c) Provide to the institution an electronic
format, if available, of the instructional
material, unless the institution already has an
electronic format in its possession, and a
license permitting the institution to create a
captioned format of the material, to the extent
the publisher has the right to grant that
license.
2) Requires a publisher to respond to a request, as
specified, in the following manner:
a) Within 10 calendar days after the receipt of
the request, the publisher must provide to the
institution a notice, in writing, as to which of
the three actions in #1 it intends to take.
b) If the publisher does not possess an
electronic format of the instructional material,
it must advise the institution of that fact in
the notice.
c) If the publisher lacks sufficient rights to
distribute, or license the institution to create,
a captioned format of some or all of the
instructional materials covered by the request,
it must advise the institution of that fact in
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the notice and must provide both of the following
to the institution, to the extent that the
publisher is able to do so:
i) An electronic format of the
instructional material.
ii) The name and contact information
of the person that should be capable of
authorizing creation of a captioned format
of the instructional material.
d) If the publisher notifies the institution
that it will provide an electronic format and a
license to create a captioned format, it must
provide the format and license within seven
calendar days of providing the notice.
e) If the publisher notifies the institution
that it will provide a captioned format, the
publisher must provide that format as soon as it
is possible to do so, but no later than 14
calendar days after providing the notice.
3) Deems that an institution has received a license
permitting the creation of a captioned format if a
publisher fails to respond to a request within 10
calendar days of receiving the request.
4) Requires access to a captioned format, an electronic
format or a license to create a captioned format to be
provided free of any fee or royalty that is additional
to the initial purchase of the instructional material.
5) Sets forth what must be included in the request to a
publisher, and authorizes a publisher to require
additional information, including a statement signed
by the student agreeing to only use the captioned
material for his or her educational purpose. This is
consistent with existing provisions relative to
electronic formats of printed instructional materials.
6) Requires the Board of Governors of the California
Community Colleges and the Trustees of the California
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State University, and requests the Regents of the
University of California, to adopt guidelines, as
specified, for the implementation and administration
of the provisions of this bill.
7) Requires the Board of Governors of the California
Community Colleges and the Trustees of the California
State University, and requests the Regents of the
University of California, to convene an advisory
group, at least 1/3 of the membership of which must be
representatives designated by publishers as having a
substantial volume of transactions with institutions
pursuant to this bill.
8) Authorizes the Chancellor of the California Community
Colleges, the Chancellor of the California State
University, and the President of the University of
California to each designate an office, or by
agreement designate a single office, to maintain a
registry of publisher contact information.
9) Authorizes the Chancellor of the California Community
Colleges, the Chancellor of the California State
University, and the President of the University of
California to each establish one or more centers to
process requests pursuant to this bill.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Existing process for print materials . The process
established by this bill is very similar to, and based
upon, existing provisions that require publishers of
printed instructional materials to provide an
electronic format of those materials for students with
disabilities.
2) Fiscal impact . According to the Assembly
Appropriations Committee analysis, this bill would
result in minor savings to the segments from reducing
the administrative costs involved in providing
accessible multi-media materials to hearing-impaired
students. The segments note that they are already
required under state and federal law to provide such
accessibility, and this bill will assist in their
compliance.
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SUPPORT
California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office
California Faculty Association
California Federation of Teachers
California Postsecondary Education Commission
Disability Rights California
Center for Independence of the Disabled, Inc.
City College of San Francisco
Community College League of California
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
Long Beach Community College District
Los Angeles Community College District
Los Rios Community College District
Peralta Community College District
Rio Hondo College Disabled Students Programs and Services
Rio Hondo Community District
San-Jose Evergreen Community College District
Student Senate for California Community Colleges
Yuba Community College District
An individual
OPPOSITION
None received.