Passed by the House February 9, 2006 Yeas 98   ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives Passed by the Senate March 1, 2006 Yeas 48   ________________________________________ President of the Senate | I, Richard Nafziger, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 3087 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth. ________________________________________ Chief Clerk | |
Approved ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | Secretary of State State of Washington |
State of Washington | 59th Legislature | 2006 Regular Session |
READ FIRST TIME 2/3/06.
AN ACT Relating to cost savings on course materials for students at state universities, regional universities, and The Evergreen State College; adding a new section to chapter 28B.10 RCW; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 The legislature finds that:
(1) Often the bundling of texts, workbooks, CD-ROMs, and other
course related materials is unnecessary since many students do not use
all of the materials included and may realize cost savings if materials
are also offered independently one from the other; and
(2) Many faculty and staff select materials uninformed of the
retail costs and differences between versions.
It is the intent of the legislature to give students more choices
for purchasing educational materials and to encourage faculty and staff
to work closely with bookstores and publishers to implement the least
costly option without sacrificing educational content and to provide
maximum cost savings to students.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2 A new section is added to chapter 28B.10 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) The boards of regents of the state universities and the boards
of trustees of the regional universities and The Evergreen State
College in collaboration with affiliated bookstores and student and
faculty representatives shall adopt rules requiring that:
(a) Affiliated bookstores:
(i) Provide students the option of purchasing materials that are
unbundled when possible, disclose to faculty and staff the costs to
students of purchasing materials, and disclose publicly how new
editions vary from previous editions;
(ii) Actively promote and publicize book buy-back programs; and
(iii) Disclose retail costs for course materials on a per course
basis to faculty and staff and make this information publicly
available; and
(b) Faculty and staff members consider the least costly practices
in assigning course materials, such as adopting the least expensive
edition available when educational content is comparable as determined
by the faculty and working closely with publishers and local bookstores
to create bundles and packages if they deliver cost savings to
students.
(2) As used in this section:
(a) "Materials" means any supplies or texts required or recommended
by faculty or staff for a given course.
(b) "Bundled" means a group of objects joined together by packaging
or required to be purchased as an indivisible unit.