II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 740
To expand the use of open textbooks in order to achieve savings for students
and improve textbook price information.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY26, 2025
Mr. D
URBIN(for himself, Mr. KING, Ms. SMITH, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee
on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To expand the use of open textbooks in order to achieve
savings for students and improve textbook price information.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Affordable College 4
Textbook Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
(1) The high cost of college textbooks continues 8
to be a barrier for many students in achieving high-9
er education. 10
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(2) According to the College Board, during the 1
2024–2025 academic year, the average student 2
budget for college books and supplies at 4-year pub-3
lic institutions of higher education was $1,290. 4
(3) The Government Accountability Office 5
found that new textbook prices increased 82 percent 6
between 2002 and 2012 and that although Federal 7
efforts to increase price transparency have provided 8
students and families with more and better informa-9
tion, more must be done to address rising costs. 10
(4) The growth of the internet has enabled the 11
creation and sharing of digital content, including 12
open educational resources that can be freely used 13
by students, teachers, and members of the public. 14
(5) According to the Student PIRGs, expanded 15
use of open educational resources has the potential 16
to save students more than a billion dollars annually. 17
(6) Federal investment in expanding the use of 18
open educational resources has lowered college text-19
book costs and reduced financial barriers to higher 20
education, while making efficient use of taxpayer 21
funds. 22
(7) Educational materials, including open edu-23
cational resources, must be accessible to the widest 24
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possible range of individuals, including those with 1
disabilities. 2
SEC. 3. OPEN TEXTBOOK GRANT PROGRAM. 3
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 4
(1) I
NSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION .—The 5
term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 6
meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher 7
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 8
(2) O
PEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE .—The term 9
‘‘open educational resource’’ has the meaning given 10
the term in section 133 of the Higher Education Act 11
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1015b). 12
(3) O
PEN TEXTBOOK.—The term ‘‘open text-13
book’’ means an open educational resource or set of 14
open educational resources that either is a textbook 15
or can be used in place of a textbook for a postsec-16
ondary course at an institution of higher education. 17
(4) R
ELEVANT FACULTY .—The term ‘‘relevant 18
faculty’’ means both tenure track and contingent 19
faculty members who may be involved in the creation 20
or use of open textbooks created as part of an appli-21
cation under subsection (d). 22
(5) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 23
the Secretary of Education. 24
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(6) SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL .—The term 1
‘‘supplemental material’’ has the meaning given the 2
term in section 133 of the Higher Education Act of 3
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1015b). 4
(b) G
RANTSAUTHORIZED.—From the amounts ap-5
propriated under subsection (k), the Secretary shall make 6
grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible entities to sup-7
port projects that expand the use of open textbooks in 8
order to achieve savings for students while maintaining or 9
improving instruction and student learning outcomes. 10
(c) E
LIGIBLEENTITY.—In this section, the term ‘‘el-11
igible entity’’ means an institution of higher education, a 12
consortium of institutions of higher education, or a consor-13
tium of States on behalf of institutions of higher edu-14
cation. 15
(d) A
PPLICATIONS.— 16
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Each eligible entity desiring 17
a grant under this section, after consultation and 18
consensus with relevant faculty, shall submit an ap-19
plication to the Secretary at such time, in such man-20
ner, and accompanied by such information as the 21
Secretary may reasonably require. 22
(2) C
ONTENTS.—Each application submitted 23
under paragraph (1) shall include a description of 24
the project to be completed with grant funds and— 25
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(A) a plan for promoting and tracking the 1
use of open textbooks in postsecondary courses 2
offered by the eligible entity and across partici-3
pating members of the consortium, where appli-4
cable, including an estimate of the projected 5
savings that will be achieved for students; 6
(B) a plan for identifying gaps in the open 7
textbook marketplace in courses that are part 8
of degree-granting programs, which may include 9
a plan for evaluating, before creating new open 10
textbooks, whether existing open textbooks 11
could be used or adapted for the same purpose, 12
and in the case that a gap exists, creating new 13
open textbooks; 14
(C) a plan for quality review and review of 15
accuracy of any open textbooks to be created or 16
adapted through the grant; 17
(D) a plan for assessing the impact of 18
open textbooks on instruction, student learning 19
outcomes, course outcomes, and educational 20
costs at the eligible entity and across partici-21
pating members of the consortium, where appli-22
cable; 23
(E) a plan for disseminating information 24
about the results of the project to institutions 25
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of higher education outside of the eligible enti-1
ty, including promoting the adoption of any 2
open textbooks created or adapted through the 3
grant; 4
(F) a statement on consultation and con-5
sensus with relevant faculty, including those en-6
gaged in the creation of open textbooks, in the 7
development of the application; 8
(G) a plan for professional development to 9
build the capacity of faculty, instructors, and 10
other staff to adapt and use open textbooks; 11
(H) a plan for updating the open textbooks 12
beyond the funded period; and 13
(I) a plan to make open textbooks that are 14
accessible to students with disabilities. 15
(e) S
PECIALCONSIDERATION.—In awarding grants 16
under this section, the Secretary shall give special consid-17
eration to applications that demonstrate the greatest po-18
tential to— 19
(1) achieve the highest level of savings for stu-20
dents through sustainable expanded use of open 21
textbooks in postsecondary courses offered by the el-22
igible entity; 23
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(2) expand the use of open textbooks at institu-1
tions of higher education outside of the eligible enti-2
ty; and 3
(3) produce— 4
(A) the highest quality open textbooks; 5
(B) open textbooks that can be most easily 6
utilized and adapted by relevant faculty mem-7
bers at institutions of higher education; 8
(C) open textbooks that correspond to the 9
highest enrollment courses at institutions of 10
higher education; and 11
(D) open textbooks created or adapted in 12
partnership with entities within institutions of 13
higher education, including campus bookstores, 14
that will assist in marketing and distribution of 15
the open textbook. 16
(f) U
SE OFFUNDS.—An eligible entity that receives 17
a grant under this section shall use the grant funds to 18
carry out any of the following activities to expand the use 19
of open textbooks: 20
(1) Professional development for any relevant 21
faculty and staff members at institutions of higher 22
education, including the search for and review of 23
open textbooks. 24
(2) Creation or adaptation of open textbooks. 25
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(3) Development or improvement of supple-1
mental materials and informational resources that 2
are necessary to support the use of open textbooks, 3
including accessible instructional materials for stu-4
dents with disabilities. 5
(4) Research evaluating the efficacy of the use 6
of open textbooks for achieving savings for students 7
and the impact on instruction and student learning 8
outcomes. 9
(g) L
ICENSE.—For each open textbook, supplemental 10
material, or informational resource created or adapted 11
wholly or in part under this section that constitutes a new 12
copyrightable work, the eligible entity receiving the grant 13
shall release such textbook, material, or resource to the 14
public under a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, and 15
irrevocable license to exercise any of the rights under copy-16
right conditioned only on the requirement that attribution 17
be given as directed by the copyright owner. 18
(h) A
CCESS ANDDISTRIBUTION.—The full and com-19
plete digital content of each open textbook, supplemental 20
material, or informational resource created or adapted 21
wholly or in part under this section shall be made available 22
free of charge to the public— 23
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(1) on an easily accessible and interoperable 1
website, which shall be identified to the Secretary by 2
the eligible entity; 3
(2) in a machine readable, digital format that 4
anyone can directly download, edit with attribution, 5
and redistribute; 6
(3) in a format that conforms to accessibility 7
standards under section 508 of the Rehabilitation 8
Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d), where feasible; and 9
(4) with identifying information, including the 10
title, edition, author, publisher, copyright date, and 11
International Standard Book Number, if available. 12
(i) R
EPORT.—Upon an eligible entity’s completion of 13
a project supported under this section, the eligible entity 14
shall prepare and submit a report to the Secretary regard-15
ing— 16
(1) the effectiveness of the project in expanding 17
the use of open textbooks and in achieving savings 18
for students; 19
(2) the impact of the project on expanding the 20
use of open textbooks at institutions of higher edu-21
cation outside of the eligible entity; 22
(3) open textbooks, supplemental materials, and 23
informational resources created or adapted wholly or 24
in part under the grant, including instructions on 25
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where the public can access each educational re-1
source under the terms of subsection (h); 2
(4) the impact of the project on instruction and 3
student learning outcomes; and 4
(5) all project costs, including the value of any 5
volunteer labor and institutional capital used for the 6
project. 7
(j) A
NNUALREPORT TOCONGRESS.—Not later than 8
2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, and annu-9
ally thereafter, the Secretary shall prepare and submit a 10
report to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 11
Pensions of the Senate and the Committee on Education 12
and Workforce of the House of Representatives detail-13
ing— 14
(1) the open textbooks, supplemental materials, 15
and informational resources created or adapted 16
wholly or in part under this section; 17
(2) the adoption of such open textbooks, includ-18
ing outside of the eligible entity; 19
(3) the savings generated for students, States, 20
and the Federal Government through projects sup-21
ported under this section; and 22
(4) the impact of projects supported under this 23
section on instruction and student learning out-24
comes. 25
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(k) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 1
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 2
such sums as are necessary. 3
SEC. 4. TEXTBOOK PRICE INFORMATION. 4
Section 133 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 5
U.S.C. 1015b) is amended— 6
(1) in subsection (b)— 7
(A) by striking paragraph (6) and insert-8
ing the following: 9
‘‘(6) O
PEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE .—The 10
term ‘open educational resource’ means a teaching, 11
learning, or research resource that is offered freely 12
to users in at least one form and that resides in the 13
public domain or has been released under an open 14
copyright license that allows for its free use, reuse, 15
modification, and sharing with attribution.’’; and 16
(B) in paragraph (9), by striking ‘‘text-17
book that’’ and all that follows through the pe-18
riod at the end and inserting ‘‘textbook that 19
may include printed materials, website access, 20
and electronically distributed materials.’’; 21
(2) in subsection (c)(1)— 22
(A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 23
(A), by striking ‘‘or other person or adopting 24
entity in charge of selecting course materials’’ 25
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and inserting ‘‘or other person or entity in 1
charge of selecting or aiding in the discovery 2
and procurement of course materials’’; 3
(B) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 4
‘‘such institution of higher education or to’’ 5
after ‘‘would make the college textbook or sup-6
plemental material available to’’; and 7
(C) by adding at the end the following: 8
‘‘(E) Whether the college textbook or sup-9
plemental material is an open educational re-10
source. 11
‘‘(F) For a college textbook or supple-12
mental material delivered primarily in a digital 13
format, a summary of terms and conditions 14
under which a publisher collects and uses stu-15
dent data through the student’s use of such col-16
lege textbook or supplemental material, includ-17
ing whether a student can opt out of such 18
terms and conditions.’’; 19
(3) in subsection (d)— 20
(A) in the subsection heading, by striking 21
‘‘ISBN’’; and 22
(B) by striking paragraph (1) and insert-23
ing the following: 24
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‘‘(1) verify and disclose, on (or linked from) the 1
institution’s Internet course schedule, for each 2
course listed in such course schedule, and in a man-3
ner of the institution’s choosing (except that if the 4
institution determines that the disclosure of the in-5
formation described in this subsection is not prac-6
ticable or available for a college textbook or supple-7
mental material, then the institution shall indicate 8
the status of such information in lieu of the informa-9
tion required under this subsection)— 10
‘‘(A) the International Standard Book 11
Number of required and recommended college 12
textbooks and supplemental materials, except 13
that if the International Standard Book Num-14
ber is not available for such college textbook or 15
supplemental material, then the institution shall 16
include in the Internet course schedule the au-17
thor, title, publisher, and copyright date for 18
such college textbook or supplemental material; 19
‘‘(B) the retail price of required and rec-20
ommended college textbooks and supplemental 21
materials; 22
‘‘(C) any applicable fee information of re-23
quired and recommended college textbooks and 24
supplemental materials; 25
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‘‘(D) whether each required and rec-1
ommended college textbook and supplemental 2
material is an open educational resource; and 3
‘‘(E) for a college textbook or supplemental 4
material delivered primarily in a digital format, 5
a link to the summary required to be provided 6
by the publisher under subsection (c)(1)(F); 7
and’’; 8
(4) by striking subsection (e) and inserting the 9
following: 10
‘‘(e) A
VAILABILITY OFINFORMATION FOR COLLEGE 11
B
OOKSTORES.— 12
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—An institution of higher 13
education receiving Federal financial assistance shall 14
assist a college bookstore that is operated by, or in 15
a contractual relationship or otherwise affiliated 16
with, the institution, in obtaining required and rec-17
ommended course materials information and such 18
course schedule and enrollment information as is 19
reasonably required to implement this section so 20
that such bookstore may— 21
‘‘(A) verify availability of such materials; 22
‘‘(B) source lower cost options, including 23
presenting lower cost alternatives to faculty for 24
faculty to consider, when practicable; and 25
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‘‘(C) maximize the availability of format 1
options for students. 2
‘‘(2) D
UE DATES.—In carrying out paragraph 3
(1), an institution of higher education may establish 4
due dates for faculty or departments to notify the 5
campus bookstore of required and recommended 6
course materials.’’; and 7
(5) in subsection (f)— 8
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (3) and 9
(4) as paragraphs (4) and (5); and 10
(B) by inserting after paragraph (2) the 11
following: 12
‘‘(3) available open educational resources;’’. 13
SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 14
It is the sense of Congress that institutions of higher 15
education should encourage the consideration of open text-16
books by faculty within the generally accepted principles 17
of academic freedom that establishes the right and respon-18
sibility of faculty members, individually and collectively, 19
to select course materials that are pedagogically most ap-20
propriate for their classes. 21
SEC. 6. GAO REPORT. 22
Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment 23
of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 24
shall prepare and submit a report to the Committee on 25
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Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and 1
the Committee on Education and Workforce of the House 2
of Representatives on the cost of textbooks to students at 3
institutions of higher education. The report shall particu-4
larly examine— 5
(1) the implementation of section 133 of the 6
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1015b), 7
as amended by section 4, including— 8
(A) the availability of college textbook and 9
open educational resource information on 10
course schedules; 11
(B) the compliance of publishers with ap-12
plicable requirements under such section; and 13
(C) the costs and benefits to institutions of 14
higher education, relevant faculty, and students; 15
(2) the change in the cost of textbooks; 16
(3) the factors, including open textbooks, that 17
have contributed to the change of the cost of text-18
books; 19
(4) the extent to which open textbooks are used 20
at institutions of higher education; and 21
(5) how institutions are tracking the impact of 22
open textbooks on instruction and student learning 23
outcomes. 24
Æ
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