(a) The commission may promulgate rules establishing minimum manufacturing standards and specifications for textbooks and instructional materials and establishing the conditions under which it contracts with publishers. The commission may make contracts with the publishers for a period of no less than thirty-six (36) months nor more than seventy-three (73) months. The commission may extend any existing contracts entered after April 27, 1984, for one (1) additional year if it notifies the affected publishers at least one (1) year prior to the beginning of the extension period. With the advice and consent of the state board of education, in order to implement the board's standards and courses of study, the commission may prescribe minimum content and reading level of textbooks and instructional materials.

(b) No less than thirty (30) days prior to the deadline for receipt of bids, the commission shall give notice to school book publishers when bids must be received on all books to be listed, the contracts of which expire or are to be terminated on June 30 of the succeeding year and when it will meet to consider the bids received. The commission shall meet on the day designated to consider the bids received, shall read them publicly and shall then proceed to select books for the approved lists on which bids have been requested. The commission shall promulgate rules and regulations governing bids and any additional information that will be required to be submitted with the bids.

(c) All bids shall be made on uniform blanks, which are to be supplied by the commission and shall be filed with the secretary of the commission on or before ten o'clock a.m. (10:00 a.m.) on the day designated for the call of bids. Each bid shall be accompanied by a certified check of not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) nor more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000), the amount of the check to be determined at the rate of one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each book bid, but in no event to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for any one (1) bidder. The checks shall be payable to the state treasurer and shall be forfeited to the state if the bidder, whose bid or part of the bid is accepted, fails, within thirty (30) days after the award, to execute the contract and bond, as provided in this part. The checks of unsuccessful bidders shall be returned immediately after the listing. The checks of successful bidders shall be returned upon proper execution of the contract and bond. An acceptable performance bond may be filed with the commission in lieu of a certified check.

(d)

(1) Copies of all textbooks and instructional materials bid shall be filed with the secretary of the commission on or before a date specified by the commission, but no later than the date of the start of the review by the advisory panels. A publisher shall not submit draft copies of textbooks, instructional materials or other ancillary materials. All textbooks, instructional materials and accompanying manuals, workbooks and other ancillary materials shall be submitted in finished form no later than the start of the review period. If a complete copy of any textbooks, instructional materials or any of their ancillary materials is not filed prior to the date specified by the commission, then the textbook or instructional materials shall not be considered for adoption. The textbooks and instructional materials shall be accompanied by a list stating the edition, title and author of each textbook or any instructional materials offered.

(2) No textbook or instructional materials shall be listed for adoption unless they have been filed as provided in subdivision (d)(1). Textbooks and instructional materials listed for adoption shall be retained by the commissioner for the period of the adoption.

(3) In addition to the finished textbooks and instructional materials required to be filed with the secretary of the commission, publishers shall make all textbooks and instructional materials proposed for adoption available for inspection online by LEAs and the public. The online inspection shall allow inspection of both the textbook or instructional materials and all accompanying manuals, workbooks and other ancillary materials. The commission shall require that a publisher in its bid document agree to provide complete online copies of the textbooks or instructional materials bid during the review process by the advisory panels, but in no case shall the textbooks or instructional materials be available for less than ninety (90) days.

(4) The department shall develop a procedure by which members of the public may comment on the books proposed for adoption. Comments shall be accepted by regular mail, email or in another electronic format as determined by the department. Public comments received by the department shall be posted on the department's web site; provided, that any comment posted shall pertain only to the review of a textbook or any instructional materials being proposed for adoption. The department shall distribute the public comments on a textbook or any instructional materials to the advisory panelists prior to the making of their recommendations on the textbook or instructional materials and to the commission before its approval of the textbook or instructional materials for inclusion on the textbook list.

(e) In all future contracts entered into on behalf of the state with publishers and distributors of approved elementary and high school textbooks and instructional materials, provision shall be made, at the discretion of the governor or the adopting authority, for the establishment, maintenance and operation of at least one (1) depot or distributing agency in each of the three (3) grand divisions, which shall be located as near the center of each grand division as is practical.

(f) It shall be a part of the terms and conditions of every contract made under this part that the state shall not be liable to any contractor or the contractor's agent in any manner or for any sum whatever. The contractors and agents shall receive their pay and compensation solely and exclusively from the proceeds of the sale of books under their contract.

(g) In the adoption of textbooks and instructional materials by boards of education as provided in this part, the committees appointed by these respective boards of education shall first determine, from the published list of textbooks and instructional materials provided for in § 49-6-2202(a), what book or books shall be changed and request samples of the various publishers for books only that are to be changed, the samples to remain property of the respective publishers, who shall have the right to claim the books within thirty (30) days after any adoption. Books not claimed within thirty (30) days by the publishers shall become the property of the respective boards of education and shall be used for library purposes only.

(h) Contracts for the books listed shall be executed in duplicate by the commissioner as secretary of the commission, on forms prepared and approved by the attorney general and reporter. One (1) copy of the contract shall be retained by the publisher and one (1) copy shall be kept on file in the office of the secretary of the commission. Each contract shall state that the prices contained in the contract do not exceed prices offered currently elsewhere.

(i) The commission may require the publisher to print or affix in each book the retail price of the book as fixed by the commission.

(j) The contractor shall file with the contract a good and sufficient bond with a surety company authorized to do business in this state in the sum to be determined by the commission but no less than two thousand dollars ($2,000) nor more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) and conditioned upon the faithful performance of all conditions of the contract and this part.