BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1914
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
1914 (Bonilla)
As Amended June 22, 2016
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |80-0 |(June 1, 2016) |SENATE: |38-0 |(August 16, |
| | | | | |2016) |
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Original Committee Reference: HIGHER ED.
SUMMARY: Requires the academic senates of campuses of the
California State University (CSU) and requests the academic
senates of campuses of the University of California (UC) to
develop policies regarding instructional materials to encourage
efforts to reduce redundancy in the delivery of materials, and
requires campuses of the CSU to review and adopt those policies.
The Senate amendments require the campuses of the CSU and
request the campuses of the UC to submit the developed policies
regarding instructional materials, as specified, to the CSU
Trustees and the UC Regents, as appropriate, for their review.
EXISTING LAW:
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1)Requires the CSU Trustees and the California Community
Colleges (CCC) Board of Governors, and requests the UC Regents
to work with the academic senates 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,
among other things. Current law also urges textbook
publishers to provide information to faculty when they are
considering what textbooks to order, and to post information
on the publishers' Web sites, including "an explanation of how
the newest edition is different from previous editions."
Publishers are also asked to disclose to faculty the length of
time they intend to produce the current edition and provide
faculty free copies of each textbook selected (Education Code
Section (EDC) 66406).
2)Establishes the College Textbook Transparency Act, which,
among others:
a) Defines "textbook" as a book that contains printed
material and is intended for use as a source of study
material for a class or group of students, a copy of which
is expected to be available for the use of each of the
students in that class or group, specifying that "textbook"
does not include a novel;
b) Defines "adopter" as any faculty member or academic
department or other adopting entity at an institution of
higher education responsible for considering and choosing
course materials to be used in connection with the
accredited courses taught at that institution;
c) Encourages adopters to consider cost in the adoption of
textbooks; and,
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d) Requires each campus bookstore at any public
postsecondary educational institution to post in its store
or on its Internet Web site a disclosure of its retail
pricing policy on new and used textbooks (EDC 66406.7).
3)Requires, as of January 1, 2020, any person, firm or
corporation that publishes textbooks offered for sale at the
UC, CSU, CCC, or a private college or university, to make the
textbooks available for sale in electronic format (EDC 66410).
4)Establishes the College Textbook Affordability Act, which,
among others:
a) Encourages faculty to accelerate the adoption of lower
cost, high-quality, open educational resources in order to
reduce costs for college students;
b) Establishes the Open Educational Resources Adoption
Incentive Program ; and,
c) Defines "open educational resources" as 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 (EDC 67421, et
seq.).
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee:
1)The CSU anticipates costs in the low to mid hundreds of
thousands in the first year to implement this bill. This
includes one-time costs for campus academic senates to develop
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required policies. These costs may be absorbable at some
campuses. Annual costs of about $200,000 to compile and
communicate costs of selected course materials to faculty and
to modify course material descriptors differentiating
bookstore suggested, and faculty required materials (General
Fund).
2)The UC indicates minor costs to implement this bill.
COMMENTS: Cost of instructional materials. According to the
February 2015 Student Public Interest Research Groups (Student
PIRGs) report, entitled, "Open Textbooks: The Billion-Dollar
Solution," the cost of a college degree has increased
significantly over the past decade. The report finds that, as
of 2013, seven in 10 seniors at public and private nonprofit
colleges, graduated with student loan debt; and, that as a
nation, Americans hold over $1 trillion in student loan debt.
Additionally, the report finds that, during the same time that
the cost of obtaining a college degree increased, college
textbook costs have skyrocketed. Though textbooks do not
represent the majority of costs in pursuing a college degree,
they are one of the largest out-of-pocket expenses that students
face each year. The report states that, "Since 1978, college
textbook costs have increased 812%. To put that in context, it
means that textbook prices have increased at 3.2 times the rate
of inflation."
Citing data from the College Board, the report finds that, the
average undergraduate student should budget between $1,200 and
$1,300 for textbooks and supplies each year; which averages to
be as much as 40% of tuition at a two-year community college,
and 13% at a four-year public institution.
A 2014 Student PIRG study found that 65% of students skipped
buying or renting a textbook because it was too expensive, and
94% of those students felt that in so doing, their grade would
suffer in a course. Additionally, almost half of the students
said the cost of textbooks impacted how many courses they were
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able to take.
Open Educational Resources (OER). OER are educational materials
such as textbooks, research articles, videos, assessments, or
simulations that are either licensed under an open copyright
license or are in the public domain. OERs provide no-cost
access and no-cost permission to revise, reuse, remix, or
redistribute the materials. According to a 2012 policy brief by
the Center for American Progress and EDUCAUSE, digital OERs
offer many advantages over traditional textbooks: they allow
students and faculty to access textbooks and related materials
for free online or purchase hardcopies that are more affordable
than traditional textbooks; they enable faculty to customize
learning materials to suit their course objectives; and, they
can provide students with a more flexible set of tools that can
contribute to a richer learning experience.
Access codes. An access code is a password needed in order to
access course content online. The content a student accesses
depends on the course, but can include things such as practice
exam questions, interactive videos, and course assignments.
Access codes are not always included with a subscription to an
electronic book. Additionally, access codes are generally tied
to specific textbooks; a student has to purchase the access code
that accompanies his or her specific textbook.
Not only are access codes an additional cost to students, access
codes are used for tasks that could be completed by platforms
already available to both professors and students on campus.
For example, access codes have been used for the submission of
assignments (without grading), storing and maintaining grades,
and for communication between faculty members and students.
Purpose of this measure. According to the author, "An access
code is an identification number or a password that is used to
access digital content. Each student must purchase their access
code, they cannot be shared. Access codes cost students $50 to
$100 in addition to what they pay for all of the other
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instructional materials required for a course." The author
contends that, the digital content protected by an access code
can truly enhance a student's learning through informal
assessments and immediate feedback. Many professors do not have
teaching assistants and the access codes can provide a method to
grade digital homework immediately without hours of additional
work for the professor.
Recognizing the academic freedom of faculty, and the need for
some oversight on how instructional materials are selected for
students, this measure tasks the CSU Trustees and CCC Board of
Governors, and asks the UC Regents, to create specific policies
as to what is acceptable for faculty to require of students when
purchasing instructional materials, including, but not limited
to, textbooks and access codes.
Analysis Prepared by:
Jeanice Warden / HIGHER ED. / (916) 319-3960 FN: 0004259