The
Donahoe Higher Education Act authorizes the activities of the 4 segments of the
higher education system in the state. These segments include the 3 public
segments: the University of California, which is administered by the Regents of
the University of California, the California State University, which is
administered by the Trustees of the California State University, and the
California Community Colleges, which is administered by the Board of Governors
of the California Community Colleges. Private and independent institutions of
higher education constitute the other segment. Provisions of the Donahoe Higher Education Act apply to the University
of California only to the extent that the regents act, by resolution, to make
them applicable.
Existing law urges textbook publishers to take specified actions
aimed at reducing the amounts that postsecondary education students currently
pay for textbooks. Existing law requires the Trustees of the California State
University and the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, and
requests the Regents of the University
of California, among other things, to work with the academic senates of
each respective segment to encourage faculty to give consideration to the least
costly practices in assigning textbooks, to encourage faculty to disclose to
students how new editions of textbooks are different from previous editions and
the cost to students for textbooks selected, to review procedures for faculty
to inform college and university bookstores of textbook selections, and to
encourage faculty to work closely with publishers and college and university
bookstores in creating bundles and packages that are economically sound and
deliver cost savings to students.
Existing law expresses the intent of the Legislature to
encourage private colleges and universities to work with their respective
academic senates and to encourage faculty to consider practices in selecting
textbooks that will result in the lowest costs to students.
This bill would require the
publisher, as defined, of a textbook, or an agent or employee of the publisher,
to provide prescribed data about the textbook to prospective purchasers,
including a list of the products, as defined, offered for sale by the publisher
germane to the prospective purchaser’s subject area of interest,
the wholesale or retail price of the product, the estimated length of time the
publisher intends to keep the product on the market, and, for each new edition
of the product, a list of the substantial content differences between the new edition
and the previous edition of the textbook.
Actual text of the law:
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 66407 is added to the Education Code,
to read:
66407. (a) (1) The publisher of a textbook, or an
agent or employee of the publisher, shall provide a prospective purchaser of the
textbook with all of the following:
(A) A list of all the
products offered for sale by the publisher germane to the prospective purchaser's
subject area of interest.
(B) For a product listed
pursuant to subparagraph (A), the wholesale or retail price of the product, and
the estimated length of time the publisher intends to keep the product on the
market.
(C) For each new edition
of a product listed pursuant to paragraph (1), a list of the substantial
content differences or changes between the new edition and the previous edition
of the textbook.
(2) The publisher shall
make the lists required by paragraph (1) available to a prospective purchaser
at the commencement of a sales interaction, including, but not necessarily
limited to, a sales interaction conducted in person, by telephone, or
electronically. The publisher shall also post in a prominent position on its
Internet Web site the lists required by paragraph (1).
(b) As used in this
section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) "Product"
means each version, including, but not necessarily limited to, a version in a
digital format, of a textbook, or set of textbooks, in a particular subject
area, including, but not necessarily limited to, a supplemental item, whether
or not the supplemental item is sold separately or together with a textbook.
(2) "Publisher"
has the same meaning as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 66406.7.
(3) "Purchaser"
means a faculty member of a public or private postsecondary educational
institution who selects the textbooks assigned to students.
(4) "Textbook" has
the same meaning as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 66406.7.
We want those books cheap, cheap:
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