Last week, U.S. Senators Durbin (D-IL), Franken (D-MN) an King (I-ME) introduced a bill to create a competitive grant program to support open textbook pilot programs at colleges and universities.
The programs would allow professors, students, researchers, and others to freely access materials that are available under an open license. The Affordable College Textbook Act requires any open textbooks or educational material to be freely and easily accessible by the public and forces entities receiving funds to complete a report on how effective the program is at saving students money.
A companion bill was also offered in the U.S. House last week by Representatives Hinojosa (D-TX) and Polis (D-CO).
Council of Presidents 