89R9137 ANG-F
By: Buckley H.B. No. 5515
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to restrictions on freight and shipping costs included in
the price of instructional materials for public schools.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 31.151(a), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) A publisher or manufacturer of instructional materials:
(1) shall furnish any instructional material the
publisher or manufacturer offers in this state at a price that does
not exceed the lowest price at which the publisher offers that
instructional material for adoption or sale to any state, public
school, or school district in the United States;
(2) shall automatically reduce the price of
instructional material sold for use in a school district or
open-enrollment charter school to the extent that the price is
reduced elsewhere in the United States;
(3) shall provide any instructional material or
ancillary item free of charge in this state to the same extent that
the publisher or manufacturer provides the instructional material
or ancillary item free of charge to any state, public school, or
school district in the United States;
(4) may not include in the price of instructional
material a freight and shipping cost that:
(A) exceeds the actual cost of delivering the
instructional material, as determined based on the standard rate
published by the carrier for the specified delivery method of the
instructional material; or
(B) includes a handling or similar charge that is
not directly related to the shipment of physical copies of the
instructional material;
(5) [(4)] shall guarantee that each copy of
instructional material sold in this state is at least equal in
quality to copies of that instructional material sold elsewhere in
the United States and is free from factual error;
(6) [(5)] may not become associated or connected with,
directly or indirectly, any combination in restraint of trade in
instructional materials or enter into any understanding or
combination to control prices or restrict competition in the sale
of instructional materials for use in this state;
(7) [(6)] shall deliver instructional materials to a
school district or open-enrollment charter school;
(8) [(7)] shall, at the time an order for
instructional materials is acknowledged, provide to school
districts or open-enrollment charter schools an accurate shipping
date for instructional materials that are back-ordered;
(9) [(8)] shall guarantee delivery of instructional
materials at least 10 business days before the opening day of school
of the year for which the instructional materials are ordered if the
instructional materials are ordered by a date specified in the
sales contract;
(10) [(9)] shall submit to the State Board of
Education an affidavit certifying any instructional material the
publisher or manufacturer offers in this state to be free of factual
errors at the time the publisher executes the contract required by
Section 31.026; and
(11) [(10)] shall comply with all other standard terms
and conditions adopted by the State Board of Education for use in
contracts for the procurement of instructional materials under
Subsection (a-1).
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.