Last month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill designed to
help decrease the cost of textbooks for students at
California’s public colleges and universities.
The bill, Assembly Bill 2477, was authored by Assemblywoman
Carol Liu, D-La Cañada Flintridge, and was supported by the
California Public Interest Research Group.
While many students who’s wallets have recently been
ravaged by soaring textbook costs may see the bill signing as a
positive move, others realize that the bill has more bark than
bite.
The bill only encourages publishers to reduce book prices by
separating extra features from the books and by disclosing the
differences between editions.
Similarly, the bill recommends that the University of California
and other public schools in the state implement textbook sharing
and lending programs for students but does not actually mandate any
changes.
Though the bill doesn’t seem to have much teeth,
CALPIRG’s Legislative Director Steve Blackledge praises
it.
“The Liu bill is a common-sense approach to reducing
textbook prices. The approach wasn’t to throw the book at the
textbook publishers, but instead to provide direction for how to
reduce textbook prices,” Blackledge said in a statement.
Candice Chung, a spokeswoman for Liu, said because the textbook
publishers are private companies, direct price controls cannot be
implemented.
Chung also said the bill’s biggest accomplishment is that
it brings “publishers together with faculty and students to
work toward a solution.”
Schwarzenegger had the opportunity to sign another bill to
reduce textbook costs, which would have outlined a plan to
introduce a self-sustaining textbook rental service for
universities, but he vetoed the measure.
Both bills easily passed the houses of the State Legislature,
which are controlled by the Democratic party.
Blackledge had criticism for Schwarzenegger’s veto of the
textbook rental bill, AB 2678.
“The good news is that Gov. Schwarzenegger signed one
college textbook bill. The bad news is that he vetoed the other.
Both bills were sponsored by CALPIRG, and both enjoyed broad
bipartisan support in the Legislature,” Blackledge said.
“Perhaps Gov. Schwarzenegger and his advisors should go
back and review their college math books. The textbook rental bill
would have saved money for college students, and that’s the
kind of math that every politician should embrace,” said
Blackledge.
At the same time, Blackledge praised Schwarzenegger and Liu for
supporting one of the bills.
“Assembly Member Liu, the Legislature, and now Gov.
Schwarzenegger are to be commended for their support of this
best-practices textbook bill, which puts in place a series of
recommendations for publishers and others to follow in order to
reduce soaring costs,” said Blackledge.
Many students are fed-up with high textbook costs and feel that
something should be done to actively reduce the cost of textbooks
for students.
“The state and the University of California should provide
programs to help students find used or cheaper books,” said
Shukry Cattan, a fourth-year history student.