Skip to main content
S 740 119th Congress Senate Education Books and print media Congressional oversight Digital media Education programs funding Government studies and investigations Higher education Teaching, teachers, curricula

Affordable College Textbook Act

Introduced: February 26, 2025 Introduced by: Durbin, Richard J. Democratic · Illinois See on congress.gov
Sign in to write a letter Sign in to watch
 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Feb 26, 2025
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text: CR S1398-1399)
Feb 26, 2025
Introduced in Senate
 Ask about this bill AI · grounded in the bill text

Have a question about what this bill does? Ask in plain English; the answer is drawn from the bill's actual text and official record, and it'll tell you when something isn't in the text rather than guess.

AI answers can be imperfect; always confirm against the full bill text.

 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Affordable College Textbook Act

This bill provides statutory authority for an open textbook grant program for institutions of higher education (IHEs). (A similar program, known as the Open Textbooks Pilot program, first received federal funding in FY2018.)

Specifically, the bill directs the Department of Education to make grants to IHEs or states on behalf of IHEs to support projects that expand the use of open textbooks. An open textbook is an educational resource that either resides in the public domain or has been released under an intellectual license that permits its free use, reuse, modification, and sharing with others.

Within three years of the bill's enactment, the Government Accountability Office must report to Congress on the cost of textbooks at IHEs. This report must examine, among other topics, the factors that have contributed to the change in the cost of textbooks.

What's happening now February 26, 2025

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text: CR S1398-1399)

 Related & companion bills 1
  • HR 1886 Identical bill Affordable College Textbook Act
 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1
 Lobbying activity 14

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

See all 14 filings →
 Cosponsors 3
All 3 Democratic 2 Independent 1
I
King, Angus S., Jr.
Maine · Feb 26, 2025
 D
Smith, Tina
Minnesota · Feb 26, 2025
 D
Wyden, Ron
Oregon · Feb 26, 2025
Cite this page click to expand
APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 740: Affordable College Textbook Act. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-740/
MLA
"S. 740: Affordable College Textbook Act." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-740/.
Bluebook (legal)
S. 740, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-740/.
Markdown link
[S. 740: Affordable College Textbook Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-740/)
Report a problem