Relating to restrictions on freight and shipping costs included in the price of instructional materials for public schools, the official text

H.B. No. 5515

AN ACT

relating to restrictions on freight and shipping costs included in

the price of instructional materials for public schools.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 31.151(a), Education Code, is amended to

read as follows:

(a) A publisher or manufacturer of instructional materials:

(1) shall furnish any instructional material the

publisher or manufacturer offers in this state at a price that does

not exceed the lowest price at which the publisher offers that

instructional material for adoption or sale to any state, public

school, or school district in the United States;

(2) shall automatically reduce the price of

instructional material sold for use in a school district or

open-enrollment charter school to the extent that the price is

reduced elsewhere in the United States;

(3) shall provide any instructional material or

ancillary item free of charge in this state to the same extent that

the publisher or manufacturer provides the instructional material

or ancillary item free of charge to any state, public school, or

school district in the United States;

(4) may not include in the price of instructional

material a freight and shipping cost that:

(A) exceeds the actual cost of delivering the

instructional material, as determined based on the standard rate

published by the carrier for the specified delivery method of the

instructional material; or

(B) includes a handling or similar charge that is

not directly related to the shipment of physical copies of the

instructional material;

(5) [(4)] shall guarantee that each copy of

instructional material sold in this state is at least equal in

quality to copies of that instructional material sold elsewhere in

the United States and is free from factual error;

(6) [(5)] may not become associated or connected with,

directly or indirectly, any combination in restraint of trade in

instructional materials or enter into any understanding or

combination to control prices or restrict competition in the sale

of instructional materials for use in this state;

(7) [(6)] shall deliver instructional materials to a

school district or open-enrollment charter school;

(8) [(7)] shall, at the time an order for

instructional materials is acknowledged, provide to school

districts or open-enrollment charter schools an accurate shipping

date for instructional materials that are back-ordered;

(9) [(8)] shall guarantee delivery of instructional

materials at least 10 business days before the opening day of school

of the year for which the instructional materials are ordered if the

instructional materials are ordered by a date specified in the

sales contract;

(10) [(9)] shall submit to the State Board of

Education an affidavit certifying any instructional material the

publisher or manufacturer offers in this state to be free of factual

errors at the time the publisher executes the contract required by

Section 31.026; and

(11) [(10)] shall comply with all other standard terms

and conditions adopted by the State Board of Education for use in

contracts for the procurement of instructional materials under

Subsection (a-1).

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.

______________________________
______________________________

President of the Senate
Speaker of the House

I certify that H.B. No. 5515 was passed by the House on May

15, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 140, Nays 1, 3 present, not

voting.

______________________________

Chief Clerk of the House

I certify that H.B. No. 5515 was passed by the Senate on May

23, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.

______________________________

Secretary of the Senate

APPROVED: _____________________

Date

_____________________

Governor