BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Session SB 1359 (Block) - Public postsecondary education: education materials: textbooks ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Version: April 12, 2016 |Policy Vote: ED. 9 - 0 | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Hearing Date: April 25, 2016 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ? 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 SB 1359 (Block) Page 2 of ? 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. SB 1359 (Block) Page 3 of ? 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. -- END --