Washington publisher duty to give institutions of higher education instructional materials in electronic format for students with print access disabilities

RCW 28B.10.916(1) requires an individual, firm, partnership or corporation that publishes or manufactures instructional materials for students attending any public or private institution of higher education in Washington to provide the institution, for use by its students, any instructional material in an electronic format mutually agreed upon by the publisher or manufacturer and the institution.

Computer files or electronic versions of printed instructional materials must be provided, video materials must be captioned or accompanied by transcriptions of spoken text, and audio materials must be accompanied by transcriptions. The supplemental materials must be provided at no additional cost and in a timely manner, upon receipt of a written request that meets subsection (2).

The written request must certify that a student with a print access disability has purchased the instructional material, or that the institution has purchased it for use by such a student, certify that the disability substantially prevents the student from using standard instructional materials and that the material is for a course in which the student is registered or enrolled, and be signed by the coordinator of services for students with disabilities or the college or campus official responsible for monitoring compliance with the Americans with disabilities act.

A party specified in subsection (1) may also require the request to include a statement signed by the student agreeing to use the material in specialized format solely for the student's own educational purposes and not to copy or duplicate it for use by others.

If good faith efforts fail to produce an agreement on an electronic format that will preserve the structural integrity of instructional materials, the publisher or manufacturer must provide the instructional material in a verified and valid HTML format and preserve as much of the structural integrity as possible.

Each institution's governing board must adopt guidelines that include procedures for granting exceptions when a publisher or manufacturer is not technically able to comply with the section. A violation constitutes an unfair practice under chapter 49.60 RCW, the law against discrimination, and all rights and remedies under that chapter, including the right to file a complaint with the human rights commission and to bring a civil action, apply.