BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 1359 (Block) - Public postsecondary education: education
materials: textbooks
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|Version: April 12, 2016 |Policy Vote: ED. 9 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: April 25, 2016 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill requires each campus of the California
Community Colleges (CCC) and the California State University
(CSU), and requests each campus of the University of California
(UC), to clearly identify in each published schedule of classes,
(1) the most accurate retail price information, and (2) the most
accurate estimated total costs of required and recommended
textbooks and supplemental material for each course, as
specified.
Fiscal
Impact: Total costs to the state ranging from mid to high
hundreds of thousands.
SB 1359 (Block) Page 1 of
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The CCC would likely incur mandate costs ranging in the low to
mid hundreds of thousands to update the course schedule three
times per year. Costs would vary by district depending upon
the size and resources at the campus. (Proposition 98)
The CSU anticipates a one-time cost of $100,000 to update a
management system. Ongoing costs to each campus to update the
course schedule three times per year would require staff time
driving costs likely in the high tens of thousands to low
hundreds of thousands. (General Fund)
The UC anticipates costs associated with this bill to be minor
and absorbable assuming that updates can be done in future
course schedules rather than having to update and reprint
existing ones.
Background: Existing federal law, the Higher Education Opportunity Act
requires each institution of higher education (IHE) that
receives federal financial assistance, to the maximum extent
possible, to:
1. Disclose, on the IHE's online course schedule, the
International Standard Book Number (ISBN) and retail price
information of required and recommended textbooks and
supplemental materials for each course listed in the course
schedule.
2. Include on the IHE's written course schedule a notice
that textbook information is available on the IHE's online
course schedule, and the web link to that schedule.
Federal law also allows for alternative requirements if
disclosure of the above information is not available or not
practicable. Federal law also requires IHEs to make available
to college bookstores that are operated or affiliated with the
institution the most accurate information available regarding
the IHE's course schedule for the subsequent academic period and
the information above for each course or class offered for the
subsequent academic period.
Existing state law, the College Textbook Affordability Act,
establishes the Open Educational Resources Adoption Incentive
Program to incentivize faculty to accelerate the adoption of
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lower cost, high-quality, open educational resources at the CCC
and CSU. (Education Code § 67420)
Further existing state law establishes the California Digital
Open Source Library, administered by the CSU in coordination
with the CCC to house open source materials while providing
web-based access for students, faculty and staff to find, adopt,
utilize, or modify course materials for little or no cost.
(Education Code § 66408)
Existing state law also establishes the California Open
Education Resources Council and requires the council to be
responsible for, among other things, developing a list of 50
strategically selected lower division courses in the public
postsecondary segments for which high-quality, affordable,
digital open source textbooks and related materials are to be
developed or acquired. (Education Code § 66409)
In addition to existing state efforts to reduce costs to
students regarding acquiring necessary textbooks, the 2016-17
Governor's Budget proposes $5 million in one-time funds to
create "Zero-Textbook-Cost Degrees" at the CCC. These degrees
would allow students to complete a degree entirely by taking
courses that use only free instructional materials. Under the
proposal, community colleges would compete for grants up to
$500,000 each to offer a zero-textbook-cost associate degree,
certificate, or credential program.
Proposed Law:
This bill requires each CCC and CSU campus, and requests each
UC campus to, clearly disclose in the campus course schedule
both of the following:
1. The most accurate retail price information of each
required and recommended textbook and supplemental material
for each course listed in the course schedule, consistent
with the requirements of the federal Higher Education
Opportunity Act of 2008.
2. The most accurate estimated total costs of required and
recommended textbooks and supplemental materials if
purchased at the campus bookstore for each course offered
by the campus.
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Related
Legislation: AB 1914 (Bonilla) requires the CSU and the CCC,
and requests the UC, to adopt policies for their respective
segments regarding when it is acceptable for a faculty member to
require students to purchase academic materials, including, but
not necessarily limited to, textbooks and access codes. AB 1914
is pending in the Assembly Higher Education Committee.
SB 216 (Liu, 2009) required the CSU and the CCC to post a list
of required textbooks for each course on the internet, including
the price charged for each textbook, and required each
instructor or academic department to confirm the intent to use
each individual item sold as part of a bundled package of
instructional materials before the final adoption of the
material. SB 216 was held in the Senate Appropriations
Committee.
Staff
Comments: Beyond the requirements of federal law, this bill
requires price disclosure in all published course schedules,
including any printed schedules. This bill also requires
disclosure of "total costs" of required and recommended
textbooks and materials for each course offered by campus. It
is anticipated that course schedules will have to be updated
three times per year as courses and associated materials
fluctuate frequently. To the extent the requirements of this
bill are interpreted to require price information reflecting
every option available to students, including renting course
materials, buying them used, buying them new, or accessing them
online this could increase staff time needed to include a
comprehensive price listing in published course schedules.
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