Affordable College Textbook Act

The Affordable College Textbook Act is a United States legislative bill intended to support use of open textbooks. It was introduced on April 4, 2019, to the 116th Congress by four senators (Dick Durbin of Illinois, Angus King of Maine, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Tina Smith of Minnesota), and one representative (Joe Neguse of Colorado).[1] Organizations supporting the bill include the American Federation of Teachers, the American Association of Community Colleges, the Association of Research Libraries, and Creative Commons.[1]

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History
Congress Short title Bill number(s) Date introduced Sponsor(s) # of cosponsors Latest status
113th Congress Affordable College Textbook Act H.R. 3538 November 19th, 2013 Rubén Hinojosa

(D-TX)

 47 Died in Committee
S. 1704 November 14th, 2013 Dick Durbin

(D-IL)

 5 Died in committee
114th Congress H.R. 3721 October 8th, 2015 Rubén Hinojosa

(D-TX)

 6 Died in committee
S. 2176 October 8th, 2015 Dick Durbin

(D-IL)

 3 Died in committee
115th Congress H.R. 3840 September 26th, 2017 Jared Polis

(D-CO)

 7 Died in committee
S. 1864 September 26th, 2017 Dick Durbin

(D-IL)

 6 Died in committee
116th Congress H.R. 2107 April 4th, 2019 Joe Neguse

(D-CO)

 3 Died in committee
S. 1036 April 4th, 2019 Dick Durbin

(D-IL)

 4 Died in committee

Previously, the bill was introduced to the 115th Congress on September 26, 2017.[2] If passed, the program would have tried to make education less expensive for college students.[2] The U.S. Department of Education would have coordinated funding. U.S. Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois, Al Franken of Minnesota, and Angus King of Maine sponsored S.1864, and U.S. Representatives Jared Polis of Colorado and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona sponsored the identical H.R.3840. Later co-sponsors in the Senate included Democrats Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Benjamin Cardin of Maryland, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, and Tina Smith of Minnesota.[2] Later co-sponsors in the House included a mixture of Republicans and Democrats: Carlos Curbelo of Florida, Peter DeFazio of Oregon, Peter King of New York, Mia Love of Utah, Tom MacArthur of New Jersey, and Rick Nolan of Minnesota.[3]

Similar bills had been previously introduced in 2009,[4] 2010, 2013,[5] and 2015[6] as the "Open College Textbook Act" and the "Affordable College Textbook Act".[7]

In 2018, Congress budgeted five million dollars for a related pilot program.[8]

See also

References
  1. "Affordable College Textbook Act". Sparcopen.org. Retrieved April 4, 2019.
  2. "S.1864 - Affordable College Textbook Act: 115th Congress (2017-2018)", Congress.gov, 26 September 2017, retrieved March 14, 2019
  3. "H.R.3840 - Affordable College Textbook Act: 115th Congress (2017-2018)", Congress.gov, 26 September 2017, retrieved March 14, 2019
  4. "S.1714 - Open College Textbook Act of 2009: 111th Congress (2009-2010)", Congress.gov, 24 September 2009, retrieved March 14, 2019
  5. Connor Ryan (December 9, 2013), "New bill strives to make textbooks affordable", USA Today
  6. "Durbin pushes bill to lower college textbook costs", Chicago Tribune, October 8, 2015
  7. "Fifth Time's the Charm? Congress Reintroduces College Textbook Bill", Newamerica.org, Washington DC: New America, September 27, 2017
  8. Danielle Douglas-Gabriel (May 8, 2018), "Free textbooks? Federal government is on track with a pilot program", The Washington Post

Further reading


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