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 ****