BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1539
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 19, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Marty Block, Chair
SB 1539 (Corbett) - As Amended: May 2, 2012
SENATE VOTE : 24-10
SUBJECT : Postsecondary education: textbooks.
SUMMARY : Requires the publisher of a textbook, or an agent or
employee of the publisher, to provide prescribed data about the
textbook to prospective purchasers. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires each publisher, agent, or employee of a publisher of
college textbooks to provide prospective purchasers at a
California college or university with a complete list of
products that are germane to the subject area of interest and
offered for sale by the publisher and requires the publishers
to provide the following for each of these products:
a) The wholesale price of the product;
b) The estimated length of time the publisher intends to
keep the product on the market; and,
c) A complete list of all differences or changes made
between the current edition and the previous edition of the
textbook for each new edition of a product.
2)Requires the lists be made available to the prospective
purchaser at the start of any sales interaction at a college
or university whether in person, by telephone, or
electronically and requires these lists by made available on
the publisher's web site.
3)Includes a variety of terms and definitions, as specified.
EXISTING LAW : Numerous federal and state laws specify textbook
information that publishers and higher education institutions
must disclose.
The federal Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) requires
publishers, when providing information to faculty or others who
SB 1539
Page 2
select course materials at an institution of higher education
receiving federal financial assistance, to include in writing:
1)The price at which the publisher would make the college
textbook or supplemental material available to a campus
bookstore and, if available, the price at which the publisher
makes the college textbook or supplemental material available
to the public.
2)The copyright dates of the three previous editions of such
college textbook, if any.
3)A description of the substantial content revisions made
between the current edition of the college textbook or
supplemental material and the previous edition, if any.
4)Whether the college textbook or supplemental material is
available in any other format, including paperback and unbound
and, for each other format of the college textbook or
supplemental material, the price at which the publisher makes
such other format available to the public.
Federal HEOA law requires each institution of higher education
to:
1)Disclose in the institution's Internet course schedule, for
each course listed, the International Standard Book Number
(ISBN) and retail price of required and recommended college
textbooks and supplemental materials.
2)Make available to a college bookstore the most accurate
information available regarding the course schedule and for
each course offered the ISBN, retail price, number of students
enrolled in the course, and the maximum student enrollment for
the course.
Existing state law:
1)Requires textbook publishers, by January 1, 2020, to make the
textbooks available, in whole or in part, for sale in an
electronic format. The electronic version of any textbook
must contain the same content as the printed version and may
be copy-protected.
2)Requires the California State University and California
SB 1539
Page 3
Community Colleges, and encourages the University of
California, to work with their respective academic senates to
encourage faculty to give consideration to the least costly
practices in assigning textbooks and to work with publishers
and college bookstores.
3)Requires college bookstores to work with the academic senates
of each campus to review the process and timelines involved in
ordering and stocking textbooks and to create bundles and
packages of instructional materials that are economically
sound.
4)Urges textbook publishers to provide specific information to
faculty and post that information on the company's website,
give preference to supplements rather than producing a new
edition and disclose the length of time the current edition is
intended to be in production.
5)Establishes the College Textbook Transparency Act �AB 1548
(Solorio), Chapter 574, Statues of 2007], which requires:
a) Textbook publishers to print on the cover or within each
textbook a summary of the substantive content differences
between the new and prior editions and the copyright date
of the previous edition.
b) Textbook publishers to provide, upon a request by
adopters, a list of the substantial content differences or
changes made between the current edition initially
published on or after January 1, 2010, and the previous
edition of the textbook, including but not necessarily
limited to, new chapters, additional eras of time, new
themes, or new subject matter
c) Each campus bookstore at any public college or
university to post in its store or on its website a
disclosure of its retail pricing policy on new and used
textbooks.
d) Each public college or university to encourage personnel
responsible for selecting course materials (typically
faculty) to place their orders with sufficient lead time to
enable the bookstore to confirm the availability of the
requested materials.
SB 1539
Page 4
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill is keyed non-fiscal by Legislative
Counsel.
COMMENTS : Background . Several reports throughout the last
decade have noted the increasing cost of college textbooks. In
2004, the California Public Interest
Research Group released a study that found the cost of textbooks
has been rapidly increasing, from an average of $642 per year in
1996-97 to $898 per year in 2003-04. A report by the California
State Auditor's Office in 2008 found that textbook costs
represented 60% of the total cost to education for community
college students, with an annual textbook cost of $692 dollars
for students taking a full-time course load.
The federal HEOA requires the Comptroller General of the United
States to report by July 1, 2013, on the implementation of the
requirements imposed upon institutions of higher education,
college bookstores and publishers, and particularly to examine:
1)The availability of college textbook information on course
schedules.
2)The provision of pricing information to faculty by publishers.
3)The use of bundled and unbundled material.
4)The implementation of the HEOA by institutions of higher
education, including the costs and benefits to such
institutions and to students.
Need for this bill . According to the author, "SB 1539 seeks to
close the gap of AB 1548 (Solorio, 2007), which among other
things requires the differences between the newest edition and
the previous edition to be printed on the inside cover of the
textbook. SB 1539 would require that this information be
provided at the beginning of this transaction. Often times the
textbook itself would not be given to the professor during the
negotiation phase, which means the professor would not have the
information needed to make a sound decision".
What does this bill do ? State and federal laws passed since
2008 have worked to substantially increase the amount of
information provided by publishers. As outlined above in
Existing Law, publishers are required to give to faculty
information about differences from prior editions and the price
SB 1539
Page 5
the textbook will be offered to the campus bookstore and to the
public. However, publishers are not required to disclose the
estimated length of time the product will be on the market, but
publishers are already required to disclose to faculty the
copyright dates of the three previous edition.
Thus, the provisions of this bill essentially restate existing
law, except for: 1) the requirements that publishers provide to
faculty a list of the all products and the anticipated length
the product will be on the market and 2) the requirement that
publishers list information about textbooks on their websites.
The committee may wish to consider if existing law requiring the
publisher to disclose the previous three edition dates
demonstrates a pattern that faculty can use to estimate how long
an edition will be current.
Issues to consider .
1)Is it always possible for the publisher to know how long an
edition will be on the market, and what are the consequences
if the information is incorrect?
2)Does existing law requiring the publisher to disclose the
previous three edition dates demonstrate a pattern that
faculty can use to estimate how long an edition will be
current?
Definition of products . This bill requires publishers to
disclose to faculty all products offered for sale that are
germane to the faculty's subject area of interest. This bill
defines "product" to include each version of a textbook or set
of textbooks, including a supplemental item whether or not the
supplemental item is sold separately or together with a
textbook. This bill also defines "product" to include digital
formats of textbooks. Current law requires publishers to
disclose to faculty if textbooks are available in other formats,
such as paperback or unbound, but is silent about digital
formats.
Arguments in support . The Community College League of
California notes that the costs of textbooks are a significant
burden for students and their families. The League adds that AB
1539 would provide faculty and students with more information
about the textbooks they select and purchase, and that the
provisions of this bill would assist students and faculty in
SB 1539
Page 6
making timely and cost-effective decisions.
Arguments in opposition . The American Association of Publishers
(AAP) writes that, "the passage of related state (AB 1548
Solorio, the College Textbooks Transparency Act) and federal
(Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) laws, have already
addressed the authors' concerns."
Opponents also argue that, "the bill would place an undue burden
on publishers and send the wrong signal to business inside and
outside of California. The bill would set a precedent that
could damage the business climate of California by regulating
methods of marketing, sales and product delivery. If the state
were to require publishers to provide proprietary information,
such as product life cycles, create unreasonable marketing
requirements, and dictate their Web page content and layout,
other businesses, such as the movies, computer games and IT,
would reasonably fear that they too could come under damaging
state controls. There are probably other states or perhaps the
federal government that has placed content control on Web sites
- content control that requires the business to place additional
content on a prominent place on their web sites. However, we
are not aware of any examples."
Prior legislation . SB 832 (Corbett) of 2007, which was vetoed
by Governor Schwarzenegger, was nearly identical to this bill.
The veto message read:
I am supportive of efforts to address the cost of college
textbooks and share the concern that these education costs
have an impact on the affordability of college for many
students. However, this bill focuses strictly on textbook
publisher policies and fails to recognize that the
affordability of textbooks is a shared responsibility among
publishers, college bookstores, and faculty members.
Therefore, instead of this bill, I am signing Assembly Bill
1548. Many of the same concepts in SB 832 are included in
AB 1548, but AB 1548 recognizes the shared responsibility
and attempts to address the issue in a more comprehensive
manner.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
SB 1539
Page 7
Associated Students of the University of California, Davis
California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office
California Faculty Association
California Public Interest Research Group
Community College League of California
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
Kern Community College District
Los Rios Community College District
Rio Hondo Community College District
San Diego Community College District
University of California
West Kern Community College District
Opposition
Association of American Publishers, Inc.
Analysis Prepared by : Kevin J. Powers / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960