College Textbook Affordability and Transparency Act of 2007 - Requires publishers informing teachers at institutions of higher education about available textbooks or supplements to include written information concerning: (1) the price the publisher would charge the bookstore associated with such institution for such items; (2) the full history of revisions for such items; and (3) whether such items are available in other formats, including paperback and unbound, and the price the publisher would charge the bookstore for items in those formats.
Requires a publisher that sells a textbook and any accompanying supplement as a single bundled item also to sell them as separately priced and unbundled items.
Directs federally-assisted institutions of higher education to include on printed or internet course schedules the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) and retail price for each required or recommended textbook or supplement for listed courses. Requires an institution to: (1) use the author and title if the ISBN is unavailable; and (2) indicate that the required information has yet to be determined if its disclosure for a course is impractical.
Requires such institutions to provide sellers of textbooks (other than publishers) that meet their requirements with: (1) their course schedules for the subsequent academic period; (2) the information this Act requires to be placed on each course schedule regarding each textbook or supplement required or recommended for each course; and (3) the number of students enrolled, and the maximum enrollment, in each course.
[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3512 Introduced in House (IH)]
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3512
To ensure that college textbooks and supplemental materials are
available and affordable.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 10, 2007
Ms. Carson (for herself, Mr. Wu, Mr. Kagen, Ms. Hooley, and Mr. Scott
of Virginia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and Labor
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To ensure that college textbooks and supplemental materials are
available and affordable.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``College Textbook Affordability and
Transparency Act of 2007''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.
(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) According to a 2005 report by the Government
Accountability Office (in this section referred to as ``GAO''),
college textbook costs have risen at twice the rate of
inflation.
(2) According to the GAO report, the cost of textbooks can
increase a student's overall college costs from 8 percent at
private institutions to over 72 percent at some public
institutions and community colleges.
(3) According to a report by the Advisory Committee on
Student Financial Assistance, requested by Congress, current
grant and scholarship programs which can barely meet the
challenge of rising tuition costs are not sufficient to
mitigate the costs of college textbooks.
(4) According to the GAO report, publishers have begun to
develop and distribute alternatives to college textbooks in
order to provide less expensive materials, but they have had to
incorporate the development costs into the prices of domestic
textbook sales.
(5) According to the GAO report, there has not been a
sufficient demand for textbook alternatives to offset
publishers' development costs and reduce the overall costs of
college textbooks.
(6) According to the GAO report, publishers have engaged in
agreements with overseas distributors to restrict the re-
importation of overseas textbooks in the United States,
regardless of content similarities, thus restricting students
from purchasing lower-cost textbooks from overseas.
(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that:
(1) There is not sufficient communication and transparency
between all the stakeholders in the textbook market, leading to
unnecessary frustrations and misunderstandings about the rising
costs of college textbooks.
(2) The textbook market by its nature puts students at a
disadvantage when it comes to affecting the prices of textbooks
because it does not include them in the decision-making process
for ultimate textbook purchases.
(3) Students should be fully informed about the costs of
textbooks before registering for classes in order to be aware
of the full cost of higher education.
(4) Students should have the ability, whenever possible, to
seek out and purchase lower-cost alternatives to textbooks so
as to reduce the cost of higher education.
SEC. 3. PURPOSE AND INTENT.
The purpose of this Act is to ensure that every student in higher
education is offered better and more timely access to affordable course
materials by educating and informing faculty, students, administrators,
institutions of higher education, bookstores, distributors, and
publishers on all aspects of the selection, purchase, sale, and use of
the course materials. It is the intent of this Act--
(1) to have all involved parties work together to identify
ways to decrease the cost of college textbooks and supplemental
materials for students while protecting the academic freedom of
faculty members to select high quality course materials for
students;
(2) that--
(A) textbook publishers and distributors should
work with faculty to understand the cost to students of
purchasing faculty selected textbooks, including the
disclosure of prices and bundling practices;
(B) college bookstores should work with faculty to
review timelines and processes for ordering and
stocking selected textbooks, and disclose textbook
costs to faculty and students in a timely manner;
(C) institutions of higher education should be
encouraged to implement numerous options to address
textbook affordability; and
(D) institutions of higher education should work
with student organizations to help students understand
the factors driving textbook costs and available
methods and resources to mitigate the effects of those
costs.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) College textbook.--The term ``college textbook'' means
a textbook, or a set of textbooks, used for a course in
postsecondary education at an institution of higher education.
(2) Course schedule.--The term ``course schedule'' means a
listing of the courses or classes offered by an institution of
higher education for an academic period.
(3) Institution of higher education.--The term
``institution of higher education'' has the meaning given the
term in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 1002).
(4) Publisher.--The term ``publisher'' means a publisher of
college textbooks or supplemental materials involved in or
affecting interstate commerce.
(5) Supplemental material.--The term ``supplemental
material'' means educational material published or produced to
accompany a college textbook, including printed materials,
computer disks, web site access, and electronically distributed
materials.
SEC. 5. PUBLISHER REQUIREMENTS.
(a) College Textbook Pricing Information.--When a publisher
provides a faculty member of an institution of higher education with
information regarding a college textbook or supplemental material
available, the publisher shall include, with any such information and
in writing, the following:
(1) The price at which the publisher would make the college
textbook or supplemental material available to the bookstore on
the campus of, or otherwise associated with, such institution
of higher education.
(2) The full history of revisions for the college textbook
or supplemental material.
(3) Whether the college textbook or supplemental material
is available in any other format, including paperback and
unbound, and the price at which the publisher would make the
college textbook or supplemental material in the other format
available to the bookstore on the campus of, or otherwise
associated with, such institution of higher education.
(b) Unbundling of Textbooks From Supplemental Materials.--A
publisher that sells a college textbook and any supplemental material
accompanying such college textbook as a single bundled item shall also
make available the college textbook and each supplemental material as
separate and unbundled items, each separately priced.
SEC. 6. PROVISION OF ISBN COLLEGE TEXTBOOK INFORMATION IN COURSE
SCHEDULES.
(a) Internet Course Schedules.--Each institution of higher
education that receives Federal assistance, to the maximum extent
practicable, shall--
(1) disclose the International Standard Book Number of
required and recommended textbooks, related materials and
supplies, including retail price information, for each course
listed in the institution's course schedule used for pre-
registration and registration purposes;
(2) if the International Standard Book Number is not
available for the items listed in paragraph (1), the
institution shall use the author and title; and
(3) if the institution determines that the disclosure of
the information described in the preceding paragraphs for a
course is not practicable, then it should indicate so by
placing the designation ``To Be Determined'' in lieu of the
information required under such paragraphs.
(b) Written Course Schedules.--In the case of an institution of
higher education that receives Federal assistance and that does not
publish the institution's course schedule for the subsequent academic
period on the Internet, the institution of higher education shall
include the information required under subsection (a) in any printed
version of the institution's course schedule as it is available at the
time of the course schedule's printing.
SEC. 7. AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION FOR COLLEGE TEXTBOOK SELLERS.
An institution of higher education that receives Federal assistance
shall make available, as soon as is practicable, upon the request of
any seller of college textbooks (other than a publisher) that meets the
requirements established by the institution, the most accurate
information available regarding--
(1) the institution's course schedule for the subsequent
academic period; and
(2) for each course or class offered by the institution for
the subsequent academic period--
(A) the information required by section 6(a) for
each college textbook or supplemental material required
or recommended for such course or class;
(B) the number of students enrolled in such course
or class; and
(C) the maximum student enrollment for such course
or class.
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Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness.
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