BILL NUMBER: SB 1539	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Corbett

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2012

   An act to add Section 66407 to the Education Code, relating to
postsecondary education.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1539, as introduced, Corbett. Postsecondary education:
textbooks.
   The Donahoe Higher Education Act authorizes the activities of the
4 segments of the higher education system in the state. These
segments include the 3 public segments: the University of California,
which is administered by the Regents of the University of
California, the California State University, which is administered by
the Trustees of the California State University, and the California
Community Colleges, which is administered by the Board of Governors
of the California Community Colleges. Private and independent
institutions of higher education constitute the other segment.
Provisions of the Donahoe Higher Education Act apply to the
University of California only to the extent that the regents act, by
resolution, to make them applicable.
   Existing law urges textbook publishers to take specified actions
aimed at reducing the amounts that postsecondary education students
currently pay for textbooks. Existing law requires the Trustees of
the California State University and the Board of Governors of the
California Community Colleges, and requests the Regents of the
University of California, among other things, to work with the
academic senates of each respective segment to encourage faculty to
give consideration to the least costly practices in assigning
textbooks, to encourage faculty to disclose to students how new
editions of textbooks are different from previous editions and the
cost to students for textbooks selected, to review procedures for
faculty to inform college and university bookstores of textbook
selections, and to encourage faculty to work closely with publishers
and college and university bookstores in creating bundles and
packages that are economically sound and deliver cost savings to
students.
   Existing law expresses the intent of the Legislature to encourage
private colleges and universities to work with their respective
academic senates and to encourage faculty to consider practices in
selecting textbooks that will result in the lowest costs to students.

   This bill would require the publisher, as defined, of a textbook,
or an agent or employee of the publisher, to provide prescribed data
about the textbook to prospective purchasers, including a list of the
products, as defined, offered for sale by the publisher germane to
the prospective purchaser's subject area of interest, the wholesale
or retail price of the product, the estimated length of time the
publisher intends to keep the product on the market, and, for each
new edition of the product, a list of the substantial content
differences between the new edition and the previous edition of the
textbook.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 66407 is added to the Education Code, to read:
   66407.  (a) (1) The publisher of a textbook, or an agent or
employee of the publisher, shall provide a prospective purchaser of
the textbook with all of the following:
   (A) A list of all the products offered for sale by the publisher
germane to the prospective purchaser's subject area of interest.
   (B) For a product listed pursuant to subparagraph (A), the
wholesale or retail price of the product, and the estimated length of
time the publisher intends to keep the product on the market.
   (C) For each new edition of a product listed pursuant to paragraph
(1), a list of the substantial content differences or changes
between the new edition and the previous edition of the textbook.
   (2) The publisher shall make the lists required by paragraph (1)
available to a prospective purchaser at the commencement of a sales
interaction, including, but not necessarily limited to, a sales
interaction conducted in person, by telephone, or electronically. The
publisher shall also post in a prominent position on its Internet
Web site the lists required by paragraph (1).
   (b) As used in this section, the following terms have the
following meanings:
   (1) "Product" means each version of a textbook, or set of
textbooks, in a particular subject area, including, but not
necessarily limited to, a supplemental item, whether or not the
supplemental item is sold separately or together with a textbook.
   (2) "Publisher" has the same meaning as defined in subdivision (b)
of Section 66406.7.
   (3) "Purchaser" means a faculty member of a public or private
postsecondary educational institution who selects the textbooks
assigned to students.
   (4) "Textbook" has the same meaning as defined in subdivision (b)
of Section 66406.7.