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HB 10: "An Act relating to costs of and charges for textbooks and other course materials required for University of Alaska courses; and providing for an effective date."

00 HOUSE BILL NO. 10 01 "An Act relating to costs of and charges for textbooks and other course materials 02 required for University of Alaska courses; and providing for an effective date." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section 05 to read: 06 SHORT TITLE. This Act may be known as the Textbook Cost Transparency Act. 07 * Sec. 2. AS 14.40 is amended by adding a new section to read: 08 Sec. 14.40.112. Course materials. (a) The University of Alaska online course 09 schedule must provide a description of each course that clearly identifies 10 (1) required course materials; 11 (2) which of the required course materials, if any, are zero-cost 12 resources; 13 (3) to the extent practicable, which of the required course materials, if 14 any, are low-cost resources; and

01 (4) the amount of each automatic fee, if any, charged for required 02 course materials when a student registers for a course. 03 (b) A search function on the University of Alaska online course schedule must 04 provide for searches identifying courses in which all required course materials are 05 zero-cost or low-cost resources. 06 (c) In this section, 07 (1) "course materials" means books, computer software, magnetic 08 media, DVDs, CD-ROMs, computer courseware, online services, online learning 09 programs, or other media used to convey course information to a student; 10 (2) "low-cost resource" means a resource available to a student at a 11 pre-tax sales price that is not more than four times the hourly minimum wage in the 12 state established under AS 23.10.065(a); 13 (3) "online course schedule" means an online list or catalog of courses 14 or course sections used by students for course registration or scheduling; 15 (4) "zero-cost resource" means a resource available to a student free of 16 charge. 17 * Sec. 3. This Act takes effect July 1, 2026.