1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to higher education; establishing a Z-Degree program at the Minnesota 
1.3 	State Colleges and Universities; requiring instructors to review open educational 
1.4 	resources; appropriating money;amending Minnesota Statutes 2018, section 
1.5 	136F.58, by adding a subdivision; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota 
1.6 	Statutes, chapter 136F.
1.7 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.8 	Section 1. [136F.305] Z-DEGREES.
1.9 	A "Z-Degree" is a zero-textbook-cost associate's degree. Each college must offer the 
1.10 	opportunity to earn a Z-Degree. A college's course offerings for its Z-Degree program must 
1.11 	include at least two distinct courses in each transfer curriculum goal area and at least enough 
1.12 	credits in each transfer curriculum goal area to complete the transfer curriculum package.

1.13 	Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 2018, section 136F.58, is amended by adding a subdivision to 
1.14 	read:
1.15 		Subd. 5.Open educational resources. (a) Each instructor must review and approve 
1.16 	open educational resources for use in a course. "Open educational resources" are high-quality 
1.17 	teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been 
1.18 	released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and repurposing 
1.19 	by others, and may include other resources that are legally available and free of cost to 
1.20 	students. Open educational resources include course materials, modules, textbooks, articles, 
1.21 	faculty-created content, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or 
1.22 	techniques used to support access to knowledge.
2.1 	(b) Instructors who are not teaching a full course load are required to actively identify 
2.2 	additional open educational resources for their courses.

2.3 	Sec. 3. APPROPRIATION.
 2.4 	$1,000,000 in fiscal year 2020 and $1,000,000 in fiscal year 2021 are appropriated from 
2.5 	the general fund to the Board of Trustees of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities 
2.6 	for developing and offering courses to implement the Z-Degree textbook program under 
2.7 	Minnesota Statutes, section 136F.305.