BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                       



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                  AB 2203|
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                                    CONSENT


          Bill No:  AB 2203
          Author:   Solorio (D)
          Amended:  6/16/10 in Senate
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE  :  8-0, 6/30/10
          AYES:  Romero, Huff, Alquist, Emmerson, Hancock, Liu,  
            Price, Simitian
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Wyland

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  Senate Rule 28.8

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  74-0, 4/29/10 - See last page for vote


           SUBJECT  :    College textbooks

           SOURCE  :     Author


           DIGEST  :    This bill requires the California Community  
          College Board of Governors, and the California State  
          University Trustees, and requests the University of  
          California Regents to review and revise their respective  
          transfer policies to ensure that students may continue to  
          use a textbook selected for a transfer or general education  
          course for long as the information contained is current and  
          reflects contemporary thinking in the discipline. 

           ANALYSIS  :    Current law requires the Trustees of the  
          California State University (CSU) and the Board of  
          Governors (BOG) of the California Community College (CCC),  
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          and requests the University of California (UC) Regents, to  
          work with their academic senates to encourage faculty to  
          give consideration to the least costly practices in  
          assigning textbooks, adopting the least expensive edition  
          when the educational content is equal, and using a selected  
          textbook as long as it is educationally sound as determined  
          by the appropriate faculty.

          Current law also requires publishers, beginning January 1,  
          2010 to print on the outer cover of textbooks a summary of  
          the substantive content differences between the new and  
          prior editions.

          This bill requires the BOG of the CCC and the CSU Trustees,  
          and requests the Regents of the UC to review and revise  
          their respective transfer policies to ensure that students  
          may continue to use a textbook selected for a transfer or  
          general education course for as long as the information  
          contained is current and reflects contemporary thinking in  
          the discipline. 

          FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes    
          Local:  No

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  8/3/10)

          University of California
          California State University
          Community College League of California
          University of California Student Association
          California State Student Association

           ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT  :    According to the author's office,  
          community college faculty is concerned that they need to  
          update their course materials more often than necessary in  
          order to fully comply with articulation agreements.   
          Although there is a process to seek waivers from the  
          requirement, the process is burdensome, not guaranteed, and  
          thus is rarely pursued.  As a result, opportunities for  
          students to sell or trade their textbooks are significantly  
          reduced.  In addition, students are forced to buy new,  
          expensive editions at a time when they are facing  
          significantly higher fees. 








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          3


           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  
          AYES:  Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill  
            Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,  
            Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Charles Calderon, Carter,  
            Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,  
            DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,  
            Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick,  
            Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill,  
            Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Knight, Lieu, Logue, Ma,  
            Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello,  
            Nielsen, Norby, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin,  
            Salas, Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra  
            Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Tran, Villines,  
            Yamada, John A. Perez
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Bass, Caballero, Jones, Bonnie  
            Lowenthal, Torrico


          PQ:nl  8/3/10   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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