Students curious about textbook markups at the bookstore may get some answers, if a new bill passes that would place auxiliary organizations under the regulations of the California Public Records Act.

The bookstore is managed under University Enterprises, Inc., a non-profit corporation set up by Sacramento State to provide services and programs to the university, like the bookstore.

UEI is considered an auxiliary organization of Sac State and is not subject to public records requests.

State Sen. Leland Yee introduced the bill which will place auxiliary organization under the act.

“Taxpayers and students deserve to know how their public universities run,” Yee said in a press release. “SB 218 will ensure that our higher education systems operate in the light of day, and thus are held accountable.”

One of the reasons for the bills introduction was an incident that occurred last year when a Sac State student requested information regarding how the Hornet bookstore determined markup rates on textbooks.

UEI denied the request because under a previous court ruling, auxiliary organizations were exempt from the act.

The court case was CSU v. Superior Court, in which the Fresno Bee wanted information from a Fresno State auxiliary foundation about donors receiving luxury boxes at the university’s Save Mart Center arena.

The foundation refused to give the information, saying it wasn’t under the authority of the act. The Fresno Bee took the organization to court.

The court found that the auxiliary organization had the legal right to deny the information, but noted that auxiliary organizations under universities should be part of the act.

The California Newspaper Publishers Association and the California Faculty Association are the main supporters of the new bill to change the law.

California Newspaper Publishers Association Legal Counsel Jim Ewert said it’s important for auxiliary organizations to become more transparent.

“It’s incredibly important that students know that decisions made by an auxiliary body are for the benefit of the campus and its students,” Ewert said. “And not to enrich the powers of private companies on the students back.”

CFA representative Brian Ferguson said: “We are totally about transparency in the UC and the CSU. I couldn’t even begin to speculate why they would withhold information.”

UEI Director of Marketing Services Celexsy Adame said that because the legislation is still pending and will no doubt be changed in the legislative process, UEI and the CSU have not taken a position on the issue at this time.

She said that because UEI is an auxiliary organization, they are not funded by the state’s general fund. Since they are not funded by taxpayer dollars, they shouldn’t be under the authority of the act.

In spring 2008, senior government major Ed Ober requested the information from the Hornet Bookstore about textbook markups; his request was denied.

For the 2008 year, Ober was the Associated Students, Inc., representative for the faculty policy committee, which is responsible for the development and oversight of policies regarding professional activities at Sac State.

The committee ensures that professors and other faculty are following the regulations set by the university and the state.

Ober was assigned with helping to implement the Textbook Transparency Act, which requires university bookstores to release textbook wholesale prices. It also requires publishers to list the revisions made to new editions. The act will become effective in 2010.

He made a public record request to the bookstore regarding textbook wholesale prices and their markups. The request was denied, and Ober said that UEI didn’t divulge the information because of the precedent set in the CSU v. Superior Court case.

To Ober, this was an obvious loophole. “They took it like a shield of honor,” he said. “They wore is proudly, and used it a number of times. It was blatantly obvious that this was a obstruction of transparency.”

Faculty Senate Chair Bruce Bikle said there is obviously a large markup at the bookstore, but one should be careful when examining their business practices. The picture is more complicated than it looks.

He gave an example saying that a professor might have a three sections of a course with a total of 135 students and those students are all required to purchase the same textbook. The professor might tell the bookstore to purchase 135 copies of the book.

They might only sell 60 percent of those books because students go to other outlets like Amazon.com or off campus bookstores. The bookstore now has 40 percent more books then they planned on selling.

The markup can make up for that 40 percent. Bikle said it might be expensive, but the books will be there.

“I suppose on the face the transparency is a good thing,” Bikle said. “They are business working on behalf of the university, but they have bills to pay. I hope the bill doesn’t directly hurt their business.”

The California Public Records Act is law designed to make public institutions more transparent by requiring state and local agencies to release public records when requested to do so by anyone. The records include all communications related to public business.

Michael Mette can be reached at [email protected].