Substitute House Bill No. 5527
AN ACT CONCERNING TEXTBOOK AFFORDABILITY.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2006) Each publisher of college textbooks shall make available to a prospective purchaser of their products who is a member of the faculty of an institution of higher education (1) the price at which the publisher would make the products available to the store on the campus of such institution that would offer such products to students, and (2) the history of revisions for such products, if any. For purposes of this section, "products" means all versions of a textbook or set of textbooks, except custom textbooks or special editions of textbooks, available in the subject area for which a prospective purchaser is teaching a course, including supplemental items, both when sold together or separately from a textbook.
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2006) The Board of Trustees of the Community-Technical Colleges shall develop a policy that (1) provides for the disbursement of financial aid to students who have met all federal, state and institutional requirements for financial aid by the first day of the academic term, or (2) permits students to use financial aid that has not yet been disbursed at stores on the campuses of the colleges under the board's jurisdiction to purchase during the first week of the academic term required textbooks for courses taught at the colleges.
Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2006) The Board of Trustees of the Connecticut State University System shall develop a policy that (1) provides for the disbursement of financial aid to students who have met all federal, state and institutional requirements for financial aid by the first day of the academic term, or (2) permits students to use financial aid that has not yet been disbursed at stores on the campuses of the universities under the board's jurisdiction to purchase during the first week of the academic term required textbooks for courses taught at the universities.
Sec. 4. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2006) The Board of Trustees for the University of Connecticut shall develop a policy that (1) provides for the disbursement of financial aid to students who have met all federal, state and institutional requirements for financial aid by the first day of the academic term, or (2) permits students to use financial aid that has not yet been disbursed at stores on the campuses of the university under the board's jurisdiction to purchase during the first week of the academic term required textbooks for courses taught at the university.
Approved June 2, 2006