BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                       



           ------------------------------------------------------------ 
          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                  AB 2203|
          |Office of Senate Floor Analyses   |                         |
          |1020 N Street, Suite 524          |                         |
          |(916) 651-1520         Fax: (916) |                         |
          |327-4478                          |                         |
           ------------------------------------------------------------ 
           
                                         
                                 THIRD READING


          Bill No:  AB 2203
          Author:   Solorio (D)
          Amended:  8/9/10 in Senate
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE  :  8-0, 6/30/10
          AYES:  Romero, Huff, Alquist, Emmerson, Hancock, Liu,  
            Price, Simitian
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Wyland

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  Senate Rule 28.8

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  74-0, 4/29/10 - See last page for vote


           SUBJECT  :    College textbooks

           SOURCE  :     Author


           DIGEST  :    This bill requires the California State  
          University Trustees and requests the University of  
          California Regents to review and revise their respective  
          transfer policies to ensure that students may continue to  
          use a textbook selected for a transfer or general education  
          course for long as the information contained is current and  
          reflects contemporary thinking in the discipline. 

           Senate Floor Amendments  of 8/9/10 make technical and  
          clarifying changes.

           ANALYSIS  :    Current law requires the Trustees of the  
                                                           CONTINUED





                                                               AB 2203
                                                                Page  
          2

          California State University and the Board of Governors of  
          the California Community College, and requests the  
          University of California Regents, to work with their  
          academic senates to encourage faculty to give consideration  
          to the least costly practices in assigning textbooks,  
          adopting the least expensive edition when the educational  
          content is equal, and using a selected textbook as long as  
          it is educationally sound as determined by the appropriate  
          faculty.

          Current law also requires publishers, beginning January 1,  
          2010 to print on the outer cover of textbooks a summary of  
          the substantive content differences between the new and  
          prior editions.

          This bill requires the California State University  
          Trustees, and requests the University of California Regents  
          to review and revise their respective transfer policies to  
          ensure that faculty may choose to use a textbook selected  
          for a transfer or general education course for as long as  
          the information contained is current and reflects  
          contemporary thinking in the discipline. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes    
          Local:  No

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  8/9/10)

          University of California
          California State University
          Community College League of California
          University of California Student Association
          California State Student Association

           ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT  :    According to the author's office,  
          community college faculty is concerned that they need to  
          update their course materials more often than necessary in  
          order to fully comply with articulation agreements.   
          Although there is a process to seek waivers from the  
          requirement, the process is burdensome, not guaranteed, and  
          thus is rarely pursued.  As a result, opportunities for  
          students to sell or trade their textbooks are significantly  
          reduced.  In addition, students are forced to buy new,  
          expensive editions at a time when they are facing  







                                                               AB 2203
                                                                Page  
          3

          significantly higher fees. 


           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  
          AYES:  Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill  
            Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,  
            Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Charles Calderon, Carter,  
            Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,  
            DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,  
            Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick,  
            Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill,  
            Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Knight, Lieu, Logue, Ma,  
            Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello,  
            Nielsen, Norby, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin,  
            Salas, Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra  
            Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Tran, Villines,  
            Yamada, John A. Perez
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Bass, Caballero, Jones, Bonnie  
            Lowenthal, Torrico


          PQ:nl  8/10/10   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

                                ****  END  ****