During the last legislative session, California Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 798 into law; a bill that is designed to provide all CSU students with access to cheaper textbooks and classroom materials.

Chief Governmental Officer for the California State Student Association Meredith Turner said the bill will start to affect students quickly.

“The governor signing AB 798, authored by Susan Bonilla, will hopefully in the next year or two lower the cost of textbooks and materials across the CSU system,” Turner said. “The CSU has been working for some time to create more open materials for students to use.”

Textbook costs were focused on because it was one area where there was a feasible way to lower costs.

“Textbooks are one of the few areas where there is some room for innovation in the potential to lower costs for students,” Turner said. “We want students to be able to access course materials so that they can be as successful as possible.”

Patrick Dorsey, the director of Governmental Affairs for Associated Students, Inc., said the bill is to help prevent what happened to professor Alain Bourget of CSU Fullerton from happening at Sac State or elsewhere in the CSU.

“A math professor found another book, another option essentially, he was reprimanded by the chair of the department for not using one of the books that actually costs more and that was written by [the chair of the math department],” Dorsey said. “We want to be here for our students. And not to be here for yourself and your high priced textbook. And that’s great we support faculty and writing their books and what not but at the same time students are the largest stakeholder and their education is on the line.”

Lauren Lombardo, the chair of the CSSA board of directors, said the bill helps fulfill the goals of the CSU.

“The effect that it will have on sac state students is probably the same effect it will have on the CSU as a whole. The CSU strives to balance affordability and accessibility and quality and there’s very, very, very few things in this world that are able to meet all three of those standards without sacrificing one or two of them,” Lombardo said. “I think that it’s really good for CSU students because they are going to be able to afford quality education materials without having to give up accessibility or affordability.”

Lombardo said it is important for students to know about this bill and what it offers them.

“I’m concerned that students aren’t going to know fully what this bill means for them,” Lombardo said. “So you might see students who don’t understand their ability to stand up to a professor who’s demanding like a $500 textbook or something ridiculous and so some students aren’t willing to make that demand.”

The Sac State ASI president Melissa Bardo said it is up to the Faculty Senate on campus to follow through on this bill, and ASI is going to reach out to them to advocate for the implementation of the bill.

“So far I haven’t seen any communication from the Faculty Senate about AB 798, but it’s mostly been a student-sponsored bill,” Bardo said. “So what we’re going to work on next is outreach to the faculty and seeing and making sure they’re aware of the bill that they’re gearing up for efforts to provide lower cost textbooks to students as soon as next semester or next fall.”