Bill > HB1253

This bill aims to make higher education more affordable by providing tax credits to businesses that offer open source instructional materials, such as textbooks and course materials, at no cost to public and private institutions of higher education. The bill defines "open source instructional materials" as digital textbooks, manuals, and other educational resources that are provided to students free of charge, replacing materials they would have been required to purchase. Institutions that adopt these open source materials must report the certified value of the materials to the Department of Revenue, which can then provide a tax credit of up to 50% of that value to the businesses that created the materials, up to a maximum of $35,000 per year. The bill also requires the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee to evaluate the effectiveness of this tax credit in reducing educational costs for students.

Budget and Finance, Education

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=1253&year=2017