What's happening
This bill authorizes SUNY to create an academic review board to regulate textbook costs, new editions, and publisher practices on SUNY campuses.
Why it matters
Could help lower textbook costs for SUNY students. by requiring faculty oversight and publisher input on pricing and edition changes, potentially making higher education more affordable.
Adds faculty control over new textbook editions. by requiring publishers to justify academic necessity before releasing new editions, which may reduce unnecessary edition churn and forced purchases.
Limits unchecked price increases on existing textbook editions. , giving the academic review board power to set caps on price hikes when the content has not changed, which could protect students from paying more without added value.
Restricts unsolicited 'free' textbooks and instructor copies. from publishers, aiming to reduce potential conflicts of interest or marketing pressures on faculty, while ensuring professors have access to review materials only upon request.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Create SUNY Textbook Review Board
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
4 Multi-sponsors
History
- Referred to higher education
- Referred to higher education
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
40
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled)
January 4, 2017
Introduced by M. of A. CAHILL -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. ABBATE, COOK, CYMBROWITZ, ORTIZ -- read once and referred to the Committee on Higher Education
AN ACT to authorize the trustees of the state university of New York to create an academic review board for the review of textbooks sold, purchased or used for academic purposes on all state university of New York campuses
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The trustees of the state university of New York are hereby authorized and directed to immediately take all actions to create an academic review board, to consist of twelve members of the full-time faculty of the various state university of New York campuses, whose goals will be to serve as an interface between the publishing industry and the management of the independent bookstores and to explore the issue of textbook costs on all state university of New York campuses providing a course of study leading to the granting of a post-secondary degree, certificate or diploma. Such trustees working in conjunction with the academic review board shall establish all necessary rules and regulations, not later than October 1, 2017, to implement the provisions of this act which shall include, but not be limited to:
1. establishing guidelines for the academic review board in which such board will create and mandate cost control policies for the sale and purchase of all textbooks in independent bookstores on all state university of New York campuses. Such guidelines shall include, but not be limited to recommendations:
(a) from the trustees of the state university of New York determining the disciplines under the jurisdiction of the academic review board;
(b) from questionnaires, created by the academic review board, which are circulated by such board within their institutions; and
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01419-01-7
A. 40 2
(c) from members of the publishing industry advising alternative less expensive ways of producing textbooks;
2. authorizing the academic review board to require that all publishing companies planning to introduce a new edition of an existing textbook shall first justify, based on academic review board criteria, the necessity of a new edition prior to such new textbook edition being sold, purchased, or used for academic purposes by any state university of New York;
3. authorizing the academic review board to establish a ceiling for an acceptable percentage increase on the cost of the same edition of a textbook which is being reprinted with no changes to the actual text; and
4. requiring that all publishers selling textbooks to be used for academic purposes on all state university of New York campuses mail marketing brochures promoting such textbooks to state university of New York instructors or professors. Complimentary copies of actual textbooks, including but not limited to instructor's editions or review copies, shall not, under any circumstances, be sent to any state university of New York instructor or professor unless such instructor or professor has specifically made such a request.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.