The Texas Department of Information Resources (department) adopts amendments to 1 TAC Chapter 213, §§213.1, 213.2, 213.10 - 213.13, 213.15 - 213.21, 213.30, 213.32, 213.33, 213.35 - 213.41, concerning Electronic and Information Resources, without changes to the proposal as published in the September 20, 2019, issue of the Texas Register (44 TexReg 5203); therefore, the rules will not be republished. The departments adopts amendment to 1 TAC Chapter 213, §213.31, concerning Electronic and Information Resources, with nonsubstantive changes to the September 20, 2019, issue of the Texas Register (44 TexReg 5203); therefore, the rule will be republished. In addition, the department adopts two new sections, §213.22 and §213.42, and the repeal of §213.14 and §213.34, without changes.

The adopted rules apply to both state agencies and institutions of higher education.

The adopted changes include but are not limited to the addition of new definitions and the modification of some existing definitions in §213.1; amendment of accessibility standards to incorporate by reference existing federal law in §§213.10 - 213.16 and §§213.30 - 213.36; requirements in §213.18 and §213.38 for commodity procurement contracts; and requirements in §213.21 and §213.41 regarding agency and institution of higher education accessibility policies and accessibility coordinator positions.

In §213.1, the department approves the addition of the following definitions because of new or revised content in Chapter 213: "Completed Accessibility Conformance Report"; "Agency Head"; "Commercial off-the-shelf product"; "Electronic and information resources (EIR) Development Services"; "Hardware"; "Worldwide Web Consortium Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0." DIR has also added a reference to all terms stated in Section 508 Appendices A and C.

The definitions of "Electronic and Information Resources (EIR)" and "Section 508" have been broadened for clarification; and the definition for "Exception" has been changed to include the phrase "agency head" rather than "Executive Director of an Agency." The department approves the deletion the definitions for "Information Technology", which is now included in the definition for "Electronic and Information Resources," and "TTY" as it is no longer applicable for new or revised content in Chapter 213.

In addition, the department approves the correction of references to Texas Administrative Code and Texas Government Code in compliance with legal grammatical standards in §§213.10 - 213.22 (for state agencies) and §§213.30 - 213.42 (for institutions of higher education) for clarity. The definition "agency head" has been approved for replacement of the existing term "Executive Director in §§213.10 - 213.22.

The department further approves an effective date of April 18, 2020, to permit agencies and institutions of higher education to become compliant with the proposed rules.

In §213.10, for state agencies, and §213.30, for institutions of higher education, the department approves the removal of outdated federal standards from rule.

In §213.11, for state agencies, and §213.31, for institutions of higher education, the department approves striking the standards for telecommunications products as under current federal standards, the telecommunications industry, rather than governmental entities, are subject to these requirements. The department approves amendments requiring contractual language obligating manufacturers of telecommunications equipment or providers of telecommunication services to assert compliance with federal law when such compliance is achievable.

In §213.12, for state agencies, and §213.32, for institutions of higher education, the department approves removing outdated federal standards from rule. The approved language incorporates by reference the standards for video and multimedia products articulated by federal law. The department further approves new language requiring consideration of captioning and alternative forms of accommodation when such request is received by an entity.

In §213.13, for state agencies, and §213.33, for institutions of higher education, the department approves amending the title from "Self Contained, Closed Products" to "Hardware." The approved amendments remove outdated federal standards from rule. The approved language incorporates by reference the standards for hardware articulated by federal law.

The department approves the repeal of §213.14, for state agencies, and §213.34, for institutions of higher education, as these requirements are no longer imposed upon state agencies by the relevant federal statutes.

In §213.15, for state agencies, and §213.35, for institutions of higher education, the department approves removing outdated federal standards from rule. The department approves clarifying language requiring compliance with this section only where EIR is noncompliant with other relevant sections as currently articulated by federal law.

In §213.16, for state agencies, and §213.36, for institutions of higher education, the department approves renaming the rule for clarity. The department further approves removing existing language regarding outdated federal standards. The approved language incorporates by reference the standards for support documentation and services articulated by federal law.

In §213.17, for state agencies, and §213.37, for institutions of higher education, the department approves adding language to clarify accessibility requirements for legacy EIR. The department approves clarifying language for exceptions based on significant difficulty or expense and includes new language identifying the time frame in which an exception might be sought. Documentation required to approve an exception now includes evidence of consideration of alternative solutions.

In §213.18, for state agencies, and §213.38, for institutions of higher education, the department approves requiring vendor provision of certain accessibility information during the procurement of the department's commodity procurement contracts, entity purchase off a department commodity procurement contract, or made directly by the entity. The approved amendments further provide that completed accessibility conformance reports may be submitted in lieu of a VPAT. The approved amendments also assert that EIR shall be considered noncompliant if these documents cannot be provided. The department amends the existing provision requiring accessibility testing for projects to require additional documentation of accessibility testing, planning, and execution criteria for the project. The approved amendment applies to any EIR project that would meet MIRP criteria but lowers the monetary threshold to trigger this provision to $500,000.

In §213.19, for state agencies, and §213.39, for institutions of higher education, the department approves eliminating the requirement that the department provide training regarding compliance with accessibility rules. The approved rules also add a requirement that accessibility criteria shall be considered for inclusion in job descriptions where the position is responsible for EIR accessibility matters.

In §213.20, for state agencies, and §213.40, for institutions of higher education, the approved rule expands the material gathered for the accessibility survey to include progress made towards compliance with accessibility rules.

In §213.21, for state agencies, and §213.41, for institutions of higher education, the department approves requiring the EIR plan be agency approved and removes the requirement that it be published. The approved amendment requires that the EIR plan include information on how EIR will be maintained in compliance with accessibility rules. The department also approves clarification regarding organizational placement of the EIR Accessibility Coordinator position to ensure effectiveness.

In §213.22, for state agencies, and §213.42, for institutions of higher education, the department approves the establishment of a holdover provision to ensure that state agencies and institutions of higher education remain in compliance with the existing rule until the effective date of the proposed rule.

The department received a comment from an external stakeholder regarding a typographical error found in §213.31. The department has incorporated this change.

The adoption applies to both state agencies and institutions of higher education and was submitted to the Information Technology Council for Higher Education (ITCHE) for review. ITCHE determined that there was no impact upon institutions of higher education as a result of the amendment.

The agency certifies that legal counsel has reviewed the adoption and found it to be a valid exercise of the agency's legal authority.