BILL NUMBER: AB 798 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 4, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 31, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 17, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 1, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 2, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 6, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Bonilla
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
An act to amend Section 69999.6 of, and to add and repeal Part
40.1 (commencing with Section 67420) of Division 5 of Title 3 of, the
Education Code, relating to postsecondary education.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 798, as amended, Bonilla. College Textbook Affordability Act of
2015.
(1) Existing law establishes the segments of the postsecondary
education system in the state, including the California State
University, administered by the Trustees of the California State
University, and the California Community Colleges, administered by
the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges.
This bill would establish the College Textbook Affordability Act
of 2015 to reduce costs for college students by encouraging faculty
to accelerate the adoption of lower cost, high-quality open
educational resources, as defined.
The bill would create the Open Educational Resources Adoption
Incentive Fund in the State Treasury Program
to provide incentives and reward campus, staff, and faculty
efforts to accelerate the adoption of open educational resources. The
bill would require that specified moneys in the
fund for the program be used by campuses to
create and support faculty and staff professional development, open
educational resource curation activities, curriculum modification, or
technology support for faculty, staff, and students, as specified.
The bill would authorize the local academic senate of a campus of the
California State University or the California Community Colleges to
(1) (A) adopt a local campus
resolution, in collaboration with students and the administration,
demonstrating its commitment to resolution to
increase student access to high-quality open educational
resources, resources and reduce the cost of textbooks
and supplies for students, and (2) (B)
upon adoption of the resolution, develop a specified
plan plan, in collaboration with students and the
administration, that describes evidence of the campus'
commitment and readiness to spend grant money from the fund to
support faculty adoption of open educational resources. The bill
would require the California Open Education Resources Council to
review and approve the plan, and, if it meets these and other
specified requirements, would authorize the respective
segment office for the campus Chancellor of the
California State University to award an initial grant of up to
$10,000 $ 50,000 to the
campus from the fund. The bill would authorize a campus to
submit a number plans for approval that would be determined in
accordance with the number of students enrolled on the campus, except
as provided. The bill would require additional bonus
grants of up to $10,000 to be distributed to
participating campuses if certain benchmarks are met. The bill would
cap the number of plans initial grants
that may be approved by the California Open Education Resources
Council each award year, as specified. The bill would
require a grant recipient to report to the California Open Education
Resources Council within 90 days after the end date for each year of
each awarded grant as to whether its benchmarks have been reached to
determine whether it is eligible for the bonus grants.
year at 100. The bill would require the California
Digital Open Source Library, also known as the California
Open Online Library for Education, in consultation with the
Intersegmental Committee of Academic Senates
Senates, to report to the Legislature before July
September 1 of each year, commencing in 2018, as
to whether the grants are increasing the rate of adoption of open
educational resources and decreasing textbook costs for college
students.
The bill would make these provisions inoperative on July
September 1, 2020, and would repeal them as of
January 1, 2021.
(2) Existing law appropriates, from specified funds, $5,000,000 to
the Chancellor of the California State University to fund, among
other things, the establishment and administration of the California
Open Education Resources Council and the California Digital Open
Source Library. Existing law reverts any of this $5,000,000 that is
not 100% matched by private funds to a specified trust.
This bill would specify that $ 3,000,000 of
those funds may be used for purposes of the College Textbook
Affordability Act of 2015, and would specify that funds appropriated
for those purposes shall not be required to be matched by private
funds. are reappropriated for allocation for the Open
Educational Resources Adoption Incentive Program. Of the remaining
$2,000,000, the bill would specify that up to $200,000 may be used
for the California Open Online Library for Education and up to
$27,000 may be used for stipends to members of the California Open
Education Resources Council, as specified.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Part 40.1 (commencing with Section 67420) is added to
Division 5 of Title 3 of the Education Code, to read:
PART 40.1. College Textbook Affordability Act of 2015
67420. This part shall be known, and may be cited, as the College
Textbook Affordability Act of 2015.
67421. ( a) The College Textbook
Affordability Act of 2015 is hereby established to reduce costs for
college students by encouraging faculty to accelerate the adoption of
lower cost, high-quality, open educational resources. Faculty
development shall be a key component of this acceleration initiative.
This initiative shall use, in addition to any other appropriate
resources, those identified, housed, produced, and otherwise found
appropriate pursuant to the California Open Education Resources
Council established in Section 66409 and the California Digital Open
Source Library Library, also known as the
California Open Online Library for Education, established in
Section 66408.
(b) The Open Educational Resources Adoption Incentive Program is
hereby established to carry out the purposes of this act. Unless
context otherwise requires, "program" in this act means the Open
Educational Resources Adoption Incentive Program.
67422. (a) The Open Educational Resources Adoption
Incentive Fund is hereby created in the State Treasury to provide
incentives and reward campus and faculty efforts to accelerate
adoption of open educational resources for the purpose of reducing
students' costs and improving access to quality materials.
(b) (1) Moneys in
the fund appropriated in subdivision (f) of Section
69999.6 for the program shall be used, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, used by
community college and California State University campuses to
create and support any, or some combination,
further the purposes specified in subdivision (a) of Section 67421,
including any of the following purposes:
(A) Faculty professional development about open
educational resources. d evelopment, which
shall include learning about the California Open Online Library for
Education established in Section 66408. Faculty who participate in
this professional development shall be reimbursed in accordance with
their campus' approved plan pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision
(a) of Section 67424.
(B) Professional development for staff whose work relates
to the use of, or student access to, supports
providing students with open educational resources.
(C) Open educational resource curation activities. All new
open educational resources developed and available that are adopted
as course material pursuant to this program shall be added to the
California Open Online Library for Education established in Section
66408.
(D) Curriculum modification for the adoption of open
educational resources as course materials. and
requisite release time for faculty in accordance with a campus'
approved plan pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section
67424 related to the adoption of open educational resources as
course materials.
(E) Technology support for faculty, students, and staff whose work
relates to the use of, or student access to, open
educational resources. furthers the goals specified in
a campus' approved plan pursuant to paragraph
(2) of subdivision (a) of Section 67424.
(2) Moneys in the fund appropriated in
subdivision (f) of Section 69999.6 for the program shall not be
used for direct compensation for faculty members who adopt open
educational resources resources, except as
provided to compensate for professional development pursuant to
subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1), or for purchasing new
equipment.
(c)
( b) For the purposes of this act, a
"community college campus" is a community college campus site that
has a local academic senate.
67423. (a) As used in this part, "fund" shall mean the Open
Educational Resources Adoption Incentive Fund.
(b) As
67423. As used in this part, "open
educational resources" are high-quality teaching, learning, and
research resources that reside in the public domain or have been
released under an intellectual property license, such as a Creative
Commons license, that permits their free use and repurposing by
others, and may include other resources that are legally available
and free of cost to students. "Open educational resources" include,
but are not limited to, full courses, course materials, modules,
textbooks, faculty-created content, streaming videos, tests,
software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to
support access to knowledge.
67424. (a) The In order to participate in
the program, the local academic senate of a campus of the
California State University or the California Community Colleges
may adopt shall do both of the following:
(1) Adopt a local campus
resolution, in collaboration with students and the administration,
demonstrating its commitment to resolution to
increase student access to high-quality open educational
resources. resources and reduce the cost of textbooks
and supplies for students in course sections for which open
educational resources are to be adopted to accomplish cost savings
for students.
(b)Upon adoption of the local campus resolution, the campus may
develop a plan
(2) Approve a plan, in collaboration with students
and cam pus administration, that describes evidence
of the campus' faculty's commitment
and readiness to effectively spend use
grant money from the fund funds to
support faculty adoption of open educational resources. The
California Open Education Resources Council may provide a model plan
to campuses. resources.
(1) The creation of the plan shall be a collaboration between the
campus academic senate and the recognized campus student body
organization, if the recognized campus student body organization
wants to be involved, with input solicited by the campus academic
senate or the recognized campus student body organization from the
local campus bookstore, including regarding open educational
resources distribution, or campus centers and libraries supporting
faculty professional development for the adoption of open educational
resources. The
(A) The plan may detail technological or staff support to
increase the adoption of open educational resources. The plan shall
describe how the faculty will learn about the California Open Online
Library for Education and other existing open educational resources.
(B) The plan shall include the number of academic departments
expected to be involved in the plan's implementation, the number of
course sections in which open educational resources will be adopted,
the percentage of cost savings for students anticipated on account of
the adoption of open educational resources for each of these course
sections, the ways existing faculty development programs will be
enhanced by the plan's implementation, and the mechanisms that will
be used to distribute adopted open educational resources to students.
(C) At their discretion, faculty may choose, for courses that are
to adopt open educational resources under the plan, appropriate
resources for any of the 50 strategically selected lower division
courses identified by the California Open Education Resources Council
pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) of
Section 66409. Other open educational resources may also be used.
(D) The plan shall describe how the campus will provide access to
open educational resource materials for students, including how the
campus will make hard copies of these materials available for
students who lack access to these materials off campus and make it
possible for students with such access to print hard copies.
(E) The plan will identify the amount of the grant requested. The
amount of the grant requested shall be equal to, or less than, the
number of course sections in which both open educational resources
will be adopted and cost savings for the course section will be
greater than 30 percent, multiplied by one thousand dollars ($1,000).
The amount requested shall not be greater than fifty thousand
dollars ($50,000). A plan shall commit to achieving greater than 30
percent cost savings in at least 10 course sections.
(F) (i) The plan shall include the percentage of cost savings for
each course section calculated as follows:
(ii) The percentage of cost savings shall be the estimated
decrease in the costs of books and supplies for a course section in
the current term resulting from the adoption of open educational
resources for that course section, divided by the costs of books and
supplies for that course section in the immediately preceding
academic term.
(b) The California Open Education
Resources Council, established in Section 66409,
Council may provide expertise on available open
educational resources and best practices for the adoption of open
educational resources for existing courses to assist in the
development of the plan.
(2) The plan shall include continued access, as determined by the
institution, to open educational resource materials selected by
faculty.
(3) (A) Each plan shall include three benchmarks, focusing on
reducing costs for students and increasing the adoption of
high-quality open educational resources consisting of a year one
goal, a year two goal, and a year three goal.
(B) Each local campus shall determine its own benchmarks.
(4) Each plan that demonstrates the following readiness
requirements shall be given priority for approval in accordance with
paragraph (2) of subdivision (c):
(A) A plan with concrete benchmarks that demonstrate quantifiable
outcomes to be achieved from its implementation, including, but not
limited to, an estimate of the range of money to be saved per student
from the plan's implementation.
(B) A plan that utilizes available open educational resources,
including, but not limited to, California Open Online Library for
Education (COOL4Ed) and Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning
and Online Teaching (MERLOT).
(C) A plan that provides an estimate of the number of academic
departments expected to be involved in the plan's implementation.
(D) A plan that describes how existing faculty development
programs will be enhanced by the plan's implementation.
(E) A plan that provides an assessment of the costs for students
to purchase course materials, as may be determined by consulting with
the California Open Education Resources Council.
(c) (1) (A) Each
The local academic senate of a campus
of the California State University or the California Community
Colleges may submit the resolution and the plan developed
pursuant to subdivisions subdivision (a)
and (b) to the California Open Education
Resources Council as its application for an initial grant
from the fund. no later than June 30, 2016.
(B) Except as provided in subparagraph (C), each year, each campus
may submit one plan for an initial grant, and may submit one
additional plan for every additional 10,000 students, regardless of
full-time or part-time status.
(C) A local campus that is currently receiving a grant or bonus
grant pursuant to this part may submit no more than the maximum
number of plans for an initial grant under subparagraph (B) minus the
number of the campus' plans that are currently receiving a grant or
bonus grant.
(2) The California Open Education Resources Council shall review
the submitted plan and, if it meets the requirements of this part,
approve it.
(3) Plans shall be submitted and approved in one of two rounds.
Plans submitted from October 2 to April 1, inclusive, of each
academic year shall be reviewed as round one plans. Plans submitted
from April 2 to October 1, inclusive, of a calendar year shall be
reviewed as round two plans.
(4)
(2) (A) The California Open
Education Resources Council shall approve up to 100 plans
per year. A plan not approved in a round may be resubmitted by the
campus for approval in future rounds, as determined by the California
Open Education Resources Council. For a plan that is not approved,
the council shall recommend modifications to increase the likelihood
of the plan's success if it is approved in a subsequent round.
make an initial grant to a campus within 60 days of
the council's receipt of the campus' application if the campus has
satisfied the requirements of subdivision (a). The California Open
Education Resources Council may award up to 100 initial grants.
(B) If the total amount requested in applications received
pursuant to subparagraph (A) is equal to or less than two million
dollars ($2,000,000), the California Open Education Resources Council
shall make grants for each approved application equal to the amount
requested in the application. If the total amount requested in
applications received pursuant to subparagraph (A) exceeds two
million dollars ($2,000,000), the California Open Education Resources
Council shall make grants for the full amount requested in approved
applications on a competitive basis based on the strength of the
evidence provided of faculty commitment to the adoption of open
educational resources.
(5)
( 3) Each plan
application approved by the California Open Education Resources
Council shall be submitted by the council to the
appropriate segment office. Chancellor of the
California State University no later than 30 days after the council
approves the application. The segment office
chancellor shall award grants to recipients in accordance
with this section and in accordance with each system's
policies and procedures for approving and administering grants.
section.
(6)
(4) Administrative support may be provided to the
council by COOL4Ed the California Open Online
Library for Education to help the council carry out its duties
in accordance with this part.
(7) An initial grant shall not exceed ten thousand dollars
($10,000).
(d) (1) Each year after a campus receives an initial grant, for up
to three years, the campus shall receive a bonus grant from the fund
for meeting established performance benchmarks for accelerating
usage of open educational resources in courses, according to the
following schedule:
(A) A
( 5) (A) No later
than June 30, 2018, a campus shall receive
may apply for a bonus grant of up to ten thousand
dollars ($10,000) for reaching its first benchmark in using open
educational resources on campus and decreasing textbook costs for
students in the first year of implementation. equal to
the amount of its initial grant. The application shall include
evidence that the campus has met or exceeded total cost savings of
greater than 30 percent for the required number of course sections
specified in the approved plan for the campus '
initial grant in the 2017-18 academic year.
(B) A campus shall receive a bonus grant of up to ten thousand
dollars ($10,000) for reaching its second benchmark in using open
educational resources on campus and decreasing textbook costs for
students in the second year of implementation.
(C) A campus shall receive a bonus grant of up to ten thousand
dollars ($10,000) for reaching its third benchmark in using open
educational resources on campus and decreasing textbook costs for
students in the third year of implementation. For bonus grants issued
for reaching the third benchmark, if applications exceed the amount
of available grant funds, priority shall be given by the California
Open Education Resources Council to plans submitted pursuant to
subdivision (c) that achieve cost savings for students through
collaborations with one or more campuses. These collaborations may
form within a segment, or across different segments.
(2) A plan that has not met a benchmark shall not be awarded any
bonus grant and shall be deemed terminated, and that plan shall not
count toward the maximum number of plans a campus may submit each
year pursuant to subdivision (c).
(3) If money is available in the Open Educational Resources
Adoption Incentive Fund after the first bonus grants for reaching the
third benchmark pursuant to subparagraph (C) of paragraph (1) are
awarded, additional bonus grants shall be made available to
recipients, as determined by the segment offices, in consultation
with the California Open Education Resources Council, until there is
no money left in the fund.
(B) (i) A campus may also compute the total cost savings for each
course section and include that figure in its application for a bonus
grant pursuant to subparagraph (A).
(ii) The total cost savings for each course section shall be the
number of students enrolled in a course section multiplied by the
per-student decrease in the costs of books and supplies for the
course section in the term resulting from the adoption of open
educational resources.
(6) Bonus grants specified in paragraph (5) shall be used to
further the goals of the campus' approved plan for its initial grant.
It is the intent of the Legislature that bonus grants support each
campus' adoption of open educational resources for at least double
the number of course sections, and with at least 30 percent cost
savings for each of these course sections, as accomplished by the
campus' approved plan for its initial grant.
(4) The bonus grants shall be used for any, or some combination,
of the following purposes:
(A) Faculty professional development.
(B) Professional development of staff whose work relates to the
use of, or student access to, open educational resources.
(C) Open educational resource curation activities.
(D) Curriculum modification for the adoption of open educational
resources as course materials.
(E) Technology support for faculty, students, and staff whose work
relates to the use of, or student access to, open educational
resources.
(e) A grant recipient shall report to the California Open
Education Resources Council as to whether its benchmarks have been
reached to determine whether it is eligible for bonus grants pursuant
to paragraph (1) of subdivision (d). This report shall include an
explanation of how the recipient used available open educational
resources, including, but not limited to, COOL4Ed and MERLOT, to
accomplish its goals pursuant to this part more efficiently. Campus
reports on their projects are due to the California Open Educational
Resources Council within 90 days after the end date for each year of
each awarded grant.
(7) If the total amount requested in applications for bonus grants
exceeds the total amount of funds available, the California Open
Educational Resources Council shall award grants on a competitive
basis to approved applications for the full amount of the initial
grant based on the overall percentage savings achieved by the initial
plan in the courses covered by the plan.
(8) It is the intent of the Legislature that initial and bonus
grants provide the impetus for campuses to adopt, and continue to
use, open educational resources as course materials.
(f)
( d) The California Open Online Li
brary for Education, in consultation with the
Intersegmental Committee of Academic Senates
Senates, shall report to the Legislature
Legislature, in accordance with Section 9795 of the
Government Code, before July September
1 each year, commencing in 2018, as to whether the grants are
increasing the rate of adoption of open educational resources and
decreasing textbook costs for college students.
(g) A local academic senate of a campus of the California State
University or the California Community Colleges may commence its
application by adopting a local campus resolution as of January 1,
2016, pursuant to subdivision (a). The California Open Education
Resources Council shall be ready to review grant applications on or
before March 1, 2016.
67425. This part shall become inoperative on July
September 1, 2020, and, as of January 1, 2021,
is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that becomes operative
on or before January 1, 2021, deletes or extends the dates on which
it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SEC. 2. Section 69999.6 of the Education Code is amended to read:
69999.6. (a) In enacting this article, it is the intent of the
Legislature to accomplish all of the following:
(1) Provide explicit authority to the board to continue to
administer accounts for, and make awards to, persons who qualified
for awards under the provisions of the Governor's Scholarship
Programs as those provisions existed on January 1, 2003, prior to the
repeal of former Article 20 (commencing with Section 69995).
(2) Provide for the management and disbursement of funds
previously set aside for the scholarship programs authorized by
former Article 20 (commencing with Section 69995).
(3) Provide a guarantee should additional funds be needed to cover
awards authorized and made pursuant to former Article 20 (commencing
with Section 69995).
(b) The board may manage and disburse the funds previously set
aside for the scholarship programs authorized by former Article 20
(commencing with Section 69995).
(c) If a person has earned an award under the Governor's
Scholarship Programs on or before January 1, 2003, but has not
claimed the award on or before June 30, 2004, he or she still may
claim the award by a date that is five years from the first June 30
that fell after he or she took the qualifying test. An award shall
not be made by the board after that date.
(d) The board shall negotiate with the current manager of the
Governor's Scholarship Programs and execute an amended or new
management and funding agreement, before January 1, 2013, which shall
include, but not be limited to, all of the following:
(1) Terms providing for the return to the General Fund by no later
than January 1, 2013, of moneys appropriated to the Governor's
Scholarship Programs that are not anticipated to be needed to make
awards pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (a).
(2) Provisions that authorize the board to pay agreed-upon early
withdrawal penalties or fees.
(3) Terms that extend to the final date upon which the board may
withdraw funds for a person who earned an award under the Governor's
Scholarship Programs.
(e) (1) If funds retained in the Golden State Scholarshare Trust
after January 1, 2013, are insufficient to cover the remaining
withdrawal requests, it is the intent of the Legislature to
appropriate the necessary funds to the Golden State Scholarshare
Trust for the purpose of funding individual beneficiary accounts.
(2) The board shall notify the Department of Finance and the
Legislature no later than 10 working days after determining that a
shortfall in available funding described in paragraph (1) will occur.
(f) (1) (A) Of the funds transferred to the
General Fund pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (d), five
million dollars ($5,000,000) is hereby appropriated to the Chancellor
of the California State University, without regard to fiscal years,
to fund the establishment and administration of the California Open
Education Resources Council and the California Digital Open Source
Library, and the development or acquisition of open education
resources, or any combination thereof, pursuant to legislation
enacted in the 2011-12 Regular Session of the Legislature,
or for the funding of grants and administrative costs pursuant to the
College Textbook Affordability Act of 2015 (Part 40.1 (commencing
with Section 67420) of Division 5). The provided that
the chancellor may provide reimbursement to the California
Community Colleges and the University of California for costs those
segments, or their representatives, incur in association with the
activities described in this paragraph.
(B) Effective January 1, 2016, three million dollars ($3,000,000)
of the moneys appropriated pursuant to this paragraph are hereby
reappropriated pursuant to paragraph (4).
(2) (A)
Moneys, Except
as specified in paragraph (3), moneys, or
a portion of moneys, appropriated pursuant to paragraph (1) shall not
be encumbered unless at least 100 percent of that amount encumbered
is matched by private funds. Moneys appropriated pursuant to
paragraph (1) that are not matched by private funds shall revert to
the Golden State Scholarshare Trust for purposes of the Governor's
Scholarship Programs.
(B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), moneys appropriated for
purposes of the College Textbook Affordability Act of 2015 shall not
be required to be matched by private funds.
(C) Twenty-five percent of each grant awarded to a campus pursuant
to the College Textbook Affordability Act of 2015 shall be matched
by the campus and used by the campus to ensure administrative and
faculty support of the campus' plan that was submitted and approved
in accordance with Section 67424.
(D) Money provided to a member of the California Open Education
Resources Council for purposes of the council carrying out its duties
in accordance with this part shall not exceed eight thousand dollars
($8,000) total per year and shall be provided as a stipend. No
additional money shall be provided for travel purposes.
(3) Of the unencumbered amount appropriated pursuant to paragraph
(1) as of June 30, 2015:
(A) Up to two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) may be used for
administration of the California Open Online Library for Education.
These funds may be used by the California Open Online Library for
Education to continue developing and updating its services to provide
faculty, staff, and students convenient access to open educational
resources as course materials and to provide administrative support
for the California Open Educational Resources Council. These funds
may be used by the California Open Online Library for Education for
purposes of the Open Educational Resources and Adoption Incentive
Program until September 1, 2020.
(B) Up to twenty-seven thousand dollars ($27,000) may be used for
stipends to members of the California Open Education Resources
Council for these members to carry out their duties in accordance
with the Open Educational Resources Adoption Incentive Program.
(4) Of the funds transferred to the General Fund pursuant to
paragraph (1) of subdivision (d) and appropriated pursuant to
paragraph (1), three million dollars ($3,000,000) is hereby
reappropriated to the Chancellor of the California State University,
without regard to fiscal years, for allocation for the Open
Educational Resources Adoption Incentive Program.
(g) The board may adopt rules and regulations for the
implementation of this article.