Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has finally signed Assembly Bill 1548.
AB 1548, also known as the Transparency in College Textbook Publishing Practices Act, will now forbid the sale of any college textbook at public colleges until publishers meet certain requirements that will make things easier for students to afford the textbooks.
This bill has become good news to many people at Bakersfield College.
“Anything that helps with book prices is anybody’s goal,” said Jennifer Caughron, the BC bookstore manager.
“Hopefully, with this, everything becomes easier for students, because it’s difficult for them to buy textbooks, and it makes me feel bad,” said Caughron.
“Each publisher has its own title in textbooks and there is no choice for them to go to places like Wal-Mart or Kmart,” said Caughron.
Assemblyman Jose Solorio created the bill with the main purpose of having the publishing companies provide public colleges and universities with specific information about textbooks.
Changes in textbook prices might not be noticed instantly, but as Caughron said, “We feel the impact here a lot, and I’d love to see a change.”
“This bill is awesome,” said David White, 20. “Anything that has to do with dropping or keeping books at a good price will help because I really hate to know how much I spend throughout the year in books rather than on some other things that I really need.”
Through this bill, it is expected that publishing companies must give professors the choice of which books to use, as well as to estimate how long textbook editions will remain in print, the differences between editions and how much compensation a faculty or the administration members could receive for using their books.
“Too bad we do not have the option to regulate the price, but once again, I really think this law is a good solution and it will definitely help,” stated Caughron.
Overall, the requirements for publishing companies of this bill are really going to make a difference in some students’ lives, said Jeanette Fernandez, 20, a nursing major who has attended BC for three years.
“This is a great idea because some students have to pay for tuition and books, and some have to work for it,” she said.
On the other hand, some students think the governor has ulterior motives in passing the bill.
“I don’t know, but there’s gotta be something underneath this. they will probably raise our taxes or something after this,” said BC student Fred Aglupos, 20.
This bill is considered really important to some professors.
Rick Darke, a physics professor, said, “Wow, this is very important. I imagine the good expectations of students to attend classes with this fact. And, it would be easier for every student to buy them in here, rather than going somewhere else and buying them online.”