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The State Legislature passed two bills last week that advocate for lower textbook fees on state college campuses – an action that marks a significant victory for student organizers but calls for no immediate change in university policies.

The assembly bills – sponsored by the student-run environmental group the California Public Interest Research Group – encourages state universities to establish textbook rental services and urges publishers to reduce extra material such as CDs and workbooks that are typically packaged with the textbooks.

Assembly Bill 2678, authored by Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, and Assembly Bill 2477, authored by Carol Liu, D-La Cañada Flintridge, now awaits the approval of the governor.

“The main reason that California has taken such an active role is because textbooks are adding to the high cost of college,” said Merriah Fairchild, the higher education program advocate for CALPIRG.

While both bills show support for CALPIRG’s yearlong campaign to reduce textbook costs (termed “Rip-off 101”), they leave the actual process of reduction to the discretion of individual campuses and publishing companies.

The Koretz bill outlines a textbook rental service roadmap for universities to follow that requires the collaboration of students, faculty and administrators. The bill also calls for the service to be self-sustaining and charge no more than 50 percent of textbook fees that students currently pay.

“(The bill) clears a path for textbook rental services that can save students hundreds of dollars per year,” Koretz said.

The Liu bill, meanwhile, encourages publishers to take an active role in reducing book prices by separating extra features from the books and by disclosing what the differences are between editions.

The implementation process calls for students to be more active on their respective campuses, said Merriah Fairchild, the higher education program advocate for CALPIRG

The group is currently pushing a “book swap” program and has created a Web site to encourage collaboration and the start of such a program.

At UCLA, a comparable program exists through the undergraduate student government – the booklending program – and CALPIRG would work to expand that program, said Mark Thornton, CALPIRG board chairman.