[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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