BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1359
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 3, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
SB 1359
(Block) - As Amended August 1, 2016
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|Policy |Higher Education |Vote:|13 - 0 |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
Yes
SUMMARY:
This bill, effective January 1, 2018, 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:
1)Clearly highlight in the online campus course schedule those
courses that exclusively used digital course materials, as
specified, that are free of charge and that may have a
low-cost option for printed versions of those materials.
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2)Clearly communicate to students the availability of free
course materials as identified per (1).
FISCAL EFFECT:
CCC. Annual General Fund (Prop 98) costs of up to $100,000 for
campuses to identify and disclose in course schedules those
classes using free digital materials.
CSU. Annual General Fund cost of around $100,000.
UC. Minor and absorbable costs.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, by requiring California's
postsecondary educational institutions to, "clearly and
explicitly highlight by a symbol or logo, any courses that use
free digital course material in their online or print course
catalogs, California's college students will be equipped with
easy-to-find information that assists them in navigating the
high cost of textbooks while at the same time create an
incentive for the mass adoption of free, open-sourced
textbooks and materials."
The author contends that this measure is an important step in
ensuring college textbooks and materials are affordable to all
students.
2)Related Legislation. AB 1914 (Bonilla), pending in Senate
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Appropriations, in part requires the academic senates of
campuses of the CSU and the UC to develop policies regarding
instructional materials to encourage efforts to reduce
redundancy in the delivery of materials, and requires the CSU
Trustees and the UC Regents to review the policies of their
respective campuses.
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081