BILL NUMBER: SB 734 CHAPTERED 10/11/07 CHAPTER 476 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 11, 2007 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 11, 2007 PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 11, 2007 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 10, 2007 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 6, 2007 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 17, 2007 INTRODUCED BY Senator Torlakson FEBRUARY 23, 2007 An act to add and repeal Sections 60050 and 60227 of the Education Code, relating to instructional materials. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 734, Torlakson. Instructional materials: reviews: fees. (1) Existing law requires the State Board of Education to adopt basic instructional materials for use in kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive. Existing law further requires the state board to ensure that curriculum frameworks are reviewed and adopted in each subject area consistent with specified submission cycles. This bill would reenact a provision that, until January 1, 2007, required the State Department of Education, prior to conducting a followup adoption, to notify all publishers and manufacturers known to produce basic instructional materials in that subject, that a fee will be assessed based on the number of programs the publisher or manufacturer indicates will be submitted. A review of a submission would be prohibited from being conducted until the fee is paid in full. These provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2011. (2) Existing law requires the state board, in reviewing and adopting or recommending for adoption submitted basic instructional materials, to use specified criteria, and ensure that, in its judgment, the submitted basic instructional materials meet all of the specified criteria, including, but not limited to, compliance with the specified requirements and guidelines for social content. Regulations establish the procedures for social content review, including, but not limited to, authorizing the State Department of Education or its agents to charge publishers and manufacturers a fee not to exceed the cost of the service for conducting a social content review, for including their instructional materials in the list of instructional materials that have been approved by the state board for compliance with social content requirements, or both, if a publisher or manufacturer requests that their instructional materials be reviewed for compliance with social content requirements and those materials are not concurrently being submitted for adoption. This bill would require the state board to adopt regulations to govern the social content reviews conducted outside the primary and followup instructional material adoption processes. The department would be authorized to contract with agents to conduct the specified social content reviews. The department would be required to assess a fee for the review that meets specified requirements, including notice to publishers and manufacturers. These provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2011. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 60050 is added to the Education Code, to read: 60050. (a) The state board shall adopt regulations to govern the social content reviews conducted at the request of a publisher or manufacturer of instructional materials outside the primary and followup instructional material adoption processes. A social content review is intended to determine compliance with Sections 60040, 60041, 60042, 60043, 60044, 60048, 60200.5, and 60200.6, and the guidelines for social content adopted by the state board. (b) (1) For purposes of this section, social content reviews of instructional materials shall be conducted by the department or its agents for all instructional materials, as defined in subdivision (h) of Section 60010. (2) The department may contract with agents to conduct social content reviews pursuant to this section. (c) The department shall assess a fee for social content reviews conducted pursuant to this section. The fee shall be established and assessed pursuant to the requirements specified in subdivisions (d) to (f), inclusive, of Section 60227, and the publishers and manufacturers shall be provided notice of the establishment of the fee pursuant to subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 60227. (d) Revenue derived from fees charged pursuant to subdivision (c) shall be budgeted as reimbursements and subject to review through the annual budget process and may be used to pay costs associated with the social content review of instructional materials. (e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2011, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2011, deletes or extends that date. SEC. 2. Section 60227 is added to the Education Code, to read: 60227. (a) For purposes of this section, a followup adoption is any adoption other than the primary adoption that occurs within a six- or eight-year cycle established pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 60200. (b) Before conducting a followup adoption in a given subject, the department shall provide notice, pursuant to subdivision (c), to all publishers or manufacturers known to produce basic instructional materials in that subject, post an appropriate notice on the Internet Web site of the department, and take other reasonable measures to ensure that appropriate notice is widely circulated to potentially interested publishers and manufacturers. (c) The notice shall specify that each publisher or manufacturer choosing to participate in the followup adoption shall be assessed a fee based upon the number of programs the publisher or manufacturer indicates will be submitted for review and the number of grade levels proposed to be covered by each program. (d) The fee shall offset the cost of conducting the followup adoption process and shall reflect the best estimate of the cost by the department. The department shall take reasonable steps to limit costs of the followup adoption and to keep the fee modest, recognizing that some of the work necessary for the primary adoption need not be duplicated. (e) The department, prior to incurring substantial costs for the followup adoption, shall require that a publisher or manufacturer who wishes to participate in the followup adoption first declare the intent to submit one or more specific programs for the followup adoption and specify the specific grade levels to be covered by each program. After a publisher or manufacturer has declared the intent to submit one or more programs and the grade levels to be covered by each program, a fee shall be assessed by the department. The fee shall be payable by the publisher or manufacturer even if the publisher subsequently chooses to withdraw a program or reduce the number of grade levels covered. A submission by a publisher or manufacturer shall not be reviewed for purposes of adoption, either in a followup adoption or in any other primary or followup adoption conducted thereafter, until the fee assessed has been paid in full. (f) (1) It is the intent of the Legislature that the fee not be so substantial that it prevents small publishers or manufacturers from participating in a followup adoption. (2) Upon the request of a small publisher or manufacturer, the state board may reduce the fee for participation in the followup adoption. (3) For purposes of this section, "small publisher" and "small manufacturer" mean an independently owned or operated publisher or manufacturer that is not dominant in its field of operation, and that, together with its affiliates, has 100 or fewer employees, and has average annual gross receipts of ten million dollars ($10,000,000) or less over the previous three years. (g) Notwithstanding subdivision (b) of Section 60200, if the department determines that there is little or no interest in participating in a followup adoption by publishers and manufacturers, it shall recommend to the state board that the followup adoption not be conducted, and the state board may chose not to conduct the followup adoption. (h) Revenue derived from fees charged pursuant to subdivision (e) shall be budgeted as reimbursements and subject to review through the annual budget process and may be used to pay costs associated with any followup adoption and any costs associated with the review of instructional materials. (i) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2011, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2011, deletes or extends that date.