Bill Text: NY S02444 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires the boards of trustees of the state university of New York and the city university of New York each to conduct and report on the availability and accessibility of alternative high-quality, lower cost course resources in lieu of traditional textbooks.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-06-11 - referred to higher education [S02444 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-S02444-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          2444
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                    January 13, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by Sen. HAMILTON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education
        AN ACT requiring the boards of trustees of the state university  of  New
          York  and the city university of New York to conduct a joint study and
          report on the availability and accessibility of alternative high-qual-
          ity, lower cost course resources in lieu of traditional textbooks
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1.  The board of trustees of the state university of New York
     2  shall conduct a study and prepare  a  report  on  the  availability  and
     3  accessibility  of  alternative high-quality, lower-cost course resources
     4  in lieu of traditional  textbooks,  which  may  include  open  education
     5  resources,  online textbooks and other related educational materials, to
     6  students enrolled in the state university or a  community  college.  The
     7  report shall include, but not be limited to:
     8    (a)  an  overview  of  current  initiatives undertaken by the board of
     9  trustees of the state university of New York  to  facilitate  access  to
    10  high-quality, lower-cost alternatives to traditional textbooks;
    11    (b)  information  related  to  average traditional textbook costs, the
    12  number of students who have used  alternative  high-quality,  lower-cost
    13  course  resources,  and cost savings of students who have purchased such
    14  high-quality, lower-cost alternatives in lieu of traditional textbooks;
    15    (c) any challenges associated with making more alternative high-quali-
    16  ty, lower-cost course resources widely available;
    17    (d) information regarding other states'  best  practices,  models  and
    18  initiatives  to  reduce overall textbook costs at institutions of higher
    19  education; and
    20    (e) recommendations on how  to  expand  the  use,  accessibility,  and
    21  distribution of alternative high-quality, lower-cost course resources.
    22    §  2.  The  board of trustees of the city university of New York shall
    23  conduct a study and prepare a report on the availability and accessibil-
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00675-01-7
        S. 2444                             2
     1  ity of alternative high-quality, lower-cost course resources in lieu  of
     2  traditional  textbooks,  which  may  include  open  education resources,
     3  online textbooks and other related educational  materials,  to  students
     4  enrolled  in  the city university of New York. The report shall include,
     5  but not be limited to:
     6    (a) an overview of current initiatives  undertaken  by  the  board  of
     7  trustees  of  the  city  university  of New York to facilitate access to
     8  high-quality, lower-cost alternatives to traditional textbooks;
     9    (b) information related to average  traditional  textbook  costs,  the
    10  number  of  students  who have used alternative high-quality, lower-cost
    11  course resources, and cost savings of students who have  purchased  such
    12  high-quality, lower-cost alternatives in lieu of traditional textbooks;
    13    (c) any challenges associated with making more alternative high-quali-
    14  ty, lower-cost course resources widely available;
    15    (d)  information  regarding  other  states' best practices, models and
    16  initiatives to reduce overall textbook costs at institutions  of  higher
    17  education; and
    18    (e)  recommendations  on  how  to  expand  the use, accessibility, and
    19  distribution of alternative high-quality, lower-cost course resources.
    20    § 3. The board of trustees of the state university of New York and the
    21  board of trustees of the city university of  New  York  shall  submit  a
    22  final report of its findings and recommendations to the governor, tempo-
    23  rary  president  of  the  senate,  the  speaker of the assembly, and the
    24  chairs of the higher education committees in  the  assembly  and  senate
    25  within one year of the effective date of this act.
    26    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.