Florida Senate - 2020                                     SB 602
       
       
        
       By Senator Montford
       
       
       
       
       
       3-00276C-20                                            2020602__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the Open Educational Resources
    3         Grant Program; creating s. 1004.086, F.S.;
    4         establishing the Open Educational Resources Grant
    5         Program; requiring the Department of Education and the
    6         Board of Governors to administer the program;
    7         providing the purpose of the program; defining the
    8         term “open educational resources”; providing for
    9         application requirements and the application process
   10         of the program; requiring participating state
   11         universities to use grant funds for a specified
   12         purpose; requiring the department to adopt rules;
   13         authorizing the board to adopt regulations; specifying
   14         that implementation of the program is subject to
   15         legislative appropriation; providing an effective
   16         date.
   17          
   18  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   19  
   20         Section 1. Section 1004.086, Florida Statutes, is created
   21  to read:
   22         1004.086 Open educational resources grant program.—
   23         (1)(a) There is created the Open Educational Resources
   24  Grant Program, which shall be administered by the Department of
   25  Education in coordination with the Board of Governors. The
   26  purpose of the program is to provide grant assistance to state
   27  universities for the development of high-quality, low-cost open
   28  educational resources for students.
   29         (b) The term “open educational resources” means licensed
   30  teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the
   31  public domain or have been released under a license that allows
   32  their free use, reuse, modification, and sharing with others.
   33  The term includes open-access textbooks and instructional
   34  materials.
   35         (2) A state university may submit an application in a
   36  format prescribed by the department to be awarded a grant under
   37  the program. The department, in coordination with the board,
   38  shall consider each proposal and may award grants to state
   39  universities that demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the
   40  department and the board, a plan for the development of open
   41  educational resources.
   42         (3) Each participating state university shall use the grant
   43  to curate or adopt open educational resources for general
   44  education courses. In curating and adopting the open educational
   45  resources, each state university must give priority to required
   46  general education courses as provided in the statewide
   47  articulation agreement.
   48         (4) The department shall adopt rules, and the board may
   49  adopt regulations, to implement this section.
   50         (5) Implementation of the program is subject to legislative
   51  appropriation.
   52         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.