(a)(1) The State Library Commission shall establish the West Virginia Program for Open Education Resources to encourage and facilitate the use of open education resource materials in both higher education and kindergarten through 12th grade in West Virginia schools.

(2) "Open education resource materials" means teaching, learning and resource materials in any medium, digital or otherwise, that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits low cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.

(b) The Library Commission, in consultation with the Higher Education Policy Commission, the West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education and the State Superintendent of Schools, or his or her designee, shall:

(1) Ascertain what institutions or faculty are currently using OER material.

(2) Identify material currently associated with core general education courses and readily available for use by faculty and institutions;

(3) Identify any statutory or other impediments which interfere with selection and use of OER material by administrators or teachers at all levels of instruction in West Virginia schools;

(4) Identify sources of potential grants for funding for teachers and institutions to use open education resources for classes and courses, and propose a competitive application system to award grant funding for those faculty and institutions seeking to use the materials;

(5) Establish a digital clearing house that will function as a publicly-accessible database for material;

(6) Develop strategies to leverage further open resource material to benefit higher education institutions and school systems, as well as private and foundation support for the project; and

(7) Report no later than July 1st of each year the program"s findings, progress and recommendations to the Legislative Manager, the Governor, and the chairs of the Legislature"s House and Senate Committees on Education.