BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1548
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1548 (Solorio)
As Amended September 5, 2007
Majority vote
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|ASSEMBLY: |46-24|(June 6, 2007) |SENATE: |30-8 |(September 10, |
| | | | | |2007) |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Original Committee Reference: HIGHER ED.
SUMMARY : Establishes the College Textbook Transparency Act for
the purposes of requiring publishers and college bookstores to
disclose certain information and to require faculty and other
textbook adopters to follow specified practices in the adoption
and purchase of textbooks.
The Senate amendments :
1)Require publishers to respond to and make available in print
or electronically requests for the following:
a) A list of all products for sale by that publisher that
are relevant to the needs and interests of adopters;
b) The copyright date of any prior edition of a textbook;
c) The price at which the new book is available from the
publisher; and,
d) A list of 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.
2)Specify that publisher disclosure required on the cover of, or
within, textbooks apply to textbooks published after January
1, 2010.
3)Remove the exemption for publishers that make available for
sale two or fewer textbooks in California.
4)Exempt any self-published textbook by an instructor for use
with that instructor's class, if the instructor discloses the
AB 1548
Page 2
publishing and use of those materials to his employer
institution.
5)Delete the authority of the Attorney General, a district
attorney, or any affected resident of this state to bring a
civil action to enforce this statute.
6)Make technical and clarifying changes.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY, this measure:
1)Required publishers to print on the outer cover of, or within,
a textbook the following items:
a) For any new editions of textbooks, a summary of the
substantive differences between the new edition and the
prior edition;
b) The copyright date of the previous version of the
textbook; and,
c) A notation on the exterior of instructor copies or
complimentary teacher editions that the book is an
instructor's copy and not for resale.
2)Required campus bookstores in any postsecondary education
institution to post on the store shelf or their Internet Web
site a disclosure of its retail pricing policy on new and used
textbooks.
3)Required postsecondary education institutions to institute
practices that encourage textbook adopters to place their
orders with sufficient lead time to enable the
university-managed bookstore or contract-managed bookstore to
confirm the availability of the requested materials.
4)Prohibited employees or departments at a postsecondary
education institution from demanding or receiving anything of
value, as defined, for adopting specific course materials
required for coursework or instruction, except for
complimentary copies, royalties from the instructor's writing,
honoraria for academic peer review of course materials, and
training in the use of course materials and technologies.
5)Prohibited a publisher or campus bookstore from soliciting
AB 1548
Page 3
faculty for the purpose of the sale of instructor copies or
complimentary teachers editions of textbooks that have been
provided by a publisher at no charge to a faculty member or
other employee.
6)Prohibited a bookstore from engaging in the trade of any
course materials identified as instructor copies or
complimentary teachers editions of textbooks.
FISCAL EFFECT : $70 to $140 million in General Fund costs to
public postsecondary education institutions. Costs to the
California Community Colleges would count toward meeting the
Proposition 98 guarantee
COMMENTS : The California Public Interest Research Groups
released a study in January 2004 that found that students spent
an average of $898 per year on textbooks in 2003-04, based on a
survey of 521 students at seven University of California
campuses. A new textbook costs $102.44 on average-58% more
expensive than the price of an average used textbook.
Fifty-nine percent of students who searched for a used book for
the Fall 2003 quarter/semester were unable to find even one used
book for their classes.
Generally, the college textbook selection and distribution
process is as follows: publishers produce materials; faculty
select which to assign from a selection list provided by
publishers; institution department chairs approve textbook
selections; lists of assigned textbooks are submitted to
bookstores; bookstores order and stock based on faculty
estimates of how many students may purchase the books from the
bookstore; students purchase from the bookstore, off-campus
stores or online.
Analysis Prepared by : Sandra Fried / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960
FN: 0003185