US Congress Senate Bill 1704 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)
Status: Introduced on November 14 2013 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2013-11-14 - Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text of measure as introduced: CR S8051-8052)
Pending: Senate Health, Education, Labor, And Pensions Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [PDF]

Affordable College Textbook Act - Directs the Secretary of Education to make competitive grants to institutions of higher education (IHEs) to support pilot programs that expand the use of open textbooks in order to achieve savings for students. Requires the grants to be used for: professional development for IHE faculty and staff, including the search for and review of open textbooks; the creation or adaptation of open educational resources, especially open textbooks; the development or improvement of tools and informational resources that support the use of open textbooks; research evaluating the efficacy of using open textbooks to achieve savings for students; and partnerships with other entities to carry out the preceding activities. Requires the full and complete digital content of the educational resources created or adopted using such grant funds to be made available free of charge to the public: (1) on an easily accessible and interoperable website; and (2) in a machine readable, digital format that anyone can directly download, edit, and redistribute. Directs the Secretary to give special consideration to grant applicants that demonstrate the greatest potential to: achieve the highest level of savings for students; expand the use of open textbooks at other IHEs; and produce open textbooks that are of the highest quality, that can be most easily utilized and adapted by faculty members, that correspond to the highest enrollment courses, and that are created or adopted in partnership with entities that will assist in their marketing and distribution. Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to include any educational material developed to accompany a college textbook as supplemental material that is subject to college textbook information disclosure requirements. Expresses the sense of Congress that IHEs should encourage the consideration of open textbooks by faculty within the generally accepted principles of academic freedom that establish the right and responsibility of faculty members to select the most appropriate course materials for their classes.

Affordable College Textbook Act

Sen. Richard Durbin [D-IL]	Sen. Al Franken [D-MN]	Sen. Christopher Murphy [D-CT]	Sen. Patty Murray [D-WA]
Sen. John Rockefeller [D-WV]	Sen. Brian Schatz [D-HI]

Date	Chamber	Action
2013-11-14	Senate	Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text of measure as introduced: CR S8051-8052)

HB3538 (Same As) 2013-11-19 - Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Type	Source
Summary	https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-bill/1704/all-info
Text	https://www.congress.gov/113/bills/s1704/BILLS-113s1704is.pdf