H. B. 2606
(By Delegates Beach, Morgan, Long and Howard)
[Introduced February 23, 2005; referred to the
Committee on Education then Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §18B-10-14 of the code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to college and university
bookstores and prohibiting governing boards of state
institutions of higher education from requiring students to
purchase textbook packages.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18B-10-14 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 10. FEES AND OTHER MONEY COLLECTED AT STATE INSTITUTIONS
OF HIGHER EDUCATION.
§18B-10-14. Bookstores.
(a) Each governing board may establish and operate a bookstore
at the institutions under its jurisdiction to sell books,
stationery and other school and office supplies generally carried
in college bookstores.
(b) The prices to be charged may not be less than the prices
fixed by any fair trade agreements and shall, in all cases, include
in addition to the purchase price paid by the bookstore a
sufficient handling charge to cover all expenses incurred for
personal and other services, supplies and equipment, storage and
other operating expenses.
(c) Each governing board also shall ensure that bookstores
operated at institutions under its jurisdiction meet the additional
objective of minimizing the costs to students of purchasing
textbooks by adopting policies which may require the repurchase and
resale of textbooks on an institutional or a statewide basis and
provide for the use of certain basic textbooks for a reasonable
number of years.
A governing board may not require a student to
purchase textbook packages or bundled textbook packages for any
course. All textbook and course related materials required to be
purchased for a course shall be made available for separate
individual purchase. Course related materials include, but are
not limited to, textbooks, workbooks, lab materials, electronic
media and any other item used to supplement the required text for
the course.
(d) All moneys derived from the operation of the bookstore
shall be paid into a special revenue fund as provided in section
two, article two, chapter twelve of this code. Subject to the
approval of the Governor, each governing board periodically shall change the amount of the revolving fund necessary for the proper
and efficient operation of each bookstore.
(e) Moneys derived from the operation of the bookstore shall
be used first to replenish the stock of goods and to pay the costs
of operating and maintaining the bookstore. Notwithstanding any
other provision of this section, any institution that has
contracted with a private entity for bookstore operation shall
deposit into an appropriate account all revenue generated by the
operation and enuring to the benefit of the institution. The
institution shall use the funds for nonathletic scholarships.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit a governing
board of a college or university from requiring a student to
purchase, for any course, textbook packages or bundled textbook
packages from a bookstore operated under the jurisdiction of the
governing board.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.