****Begin File******************Begin File*******************Begin File**** *************************************************************************** ISSN 1069-7799 ALAWON ALA Washington Office Newsline An electronic publication of the American Library Association Washington Office Volume 3, Number 37 July 26, 1994 In this issue: (258 lines) ACTION NEEDED ON SENATE TELECOMMUNICATIONS BILL HEARING HELD ON INOUYE TELECOMMUNICATIONS BILL SENATE COMMITTEE APPROVES FY 1995 LIBRARY FUNDING *************************************************************************** ACTION NEEDED ON SENATE TELECOMMUNICATIONS BILL This may be make or break time on senate telecommunications legislation. Although industry negotiations recently broke down, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee may move ahead within days on its bill as S. 1822, The Communications Act of 1994. S. 1822 includes provisions for preferential rates for libraries, educational institutions, state and local governments, and other nonprofits. Also pending is S. 2195, the National Public Telecommunications Infrastructure Act of 1994, introduced on June 15 by Sen. Daniel Inouye (D- HI). This bill would set aside telecommunications capacity and create a universal service fund to support use of advanced telecommunication services by public and nonprofit entities, such as libraries and educational institutions. In written statements ALA: 1. Supports sec. 103, Public Access, of S. 1822 on preferential rates; 2. Supports the reservation of capacity in S. 2195; 3. Supports the public telecommunications infrastructure fund in S. 2195; and 4. Provided recommendations on how these pending provisions could be clarified and implemented most effectively in the following: a. ALA testimony of Elaine Albright on S. 1822 on May 25 b. ALA-supported testimony of George Connick on S. 2195 on June 22 c. ALA testimony of Nancy Kranich for the hearing record on S. 2195 d. A resolution on telecommunications policy adopted by the ALA council on June 29. ACTION NEEDED: Urge senators on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee to include in any telecommunications legislation the preferential rate provisions of S. 1822 with the implementation recommendations of ALA and other library and education groups; incorporate the concepts of S. 2195; include a review of the impact of regulatory changes on public entities such as libraries; and incorporate open data network standards. *************************************************************************** HEARING HELD ON INOUYE TELECOMMUNICATIONS BILL On June 22, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) chaired a hearing of the Communications Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on S. 2195, the National Public Telecommunications Infrastructure Act of 1994. Testimony was received from Hawaii State Senator Carol Fukunaga; George Connick, President of the University of Maine at Augusta; Henry Cauthen, President of the South Carolina Educational Television Network; Andrew Blau of the Benton Foundation; Anthony Riddle, Chair of the Alliance for Community Media; and Monroe Price of the Cardoza School of Law/Yeshiva University. S. 2195, introduced on June 15 (see June 15 _Congressional Record_, pp. S6942-5), would reserve capacity on the "information superhighway" for use by state and local governments, schools, libraries, public broadcasters and other nonprofits. The bill would require telecommunications networks that benefit from special access to public rights-of-way to tender a benefit to the publicþa public right-of-way on the information superhighway. More specifically, it would require those facilities to reserve up to 20 percent of their capacityþto eligible entities for the provision of free educational, informational, cultural, civic, or charitable services to the public. Eligible entities would include state, local, and tribal governments, accredited educational institutions, public telecommunications entities, public and nonprofit libraries, and recognized nonprofit organizations specifically formed to provide public access to noncommercial educational, information, cultural, civic, or charitable services. Introducing the bill, Inouye said the bill directs the Federal Communications Commission to adopt regulations and guidelines which would require owners and operators of telecommunications networks to reserve capacity on their networks in accordance with certain provisions. The FCC is to presume that 20 percent of the network capacity is appropriate, but allows the FCC to establish a lower or scaled amount based on considerations such as the type of technology used by the network and barriers to access. George Connick's June 22 testimony on behalf of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges was endorsed by ALA. Connick supported the idea of a reserve set aside on the information superhighway for public service users, citing the successful example in Maine of reserving ITFS frequencies for noncommercial education uses. He also noted that frequency or channel allocations cannot be applied in the same manner to digital broadband packet systems. Preferential rates or other mechanisms may be more appropriate to meet public needs for access to such systems. Connick also asked for clarification that the telecommunications networks that would be required to set aside capacity would exclude noncommercial networks of educational institutions and library entities. Nancy Kranich, Associate Dean of Libraries at New York University, had been approached by the Senate Communications Subcommittee as a possible witness on June 22. She submitted testimony for the hearing record on behalf of ALA. She said that S. 2195, combined with the preferential rates provision of S. 1822, would facilitate widespread public discourse on a range of public concerns and assure a greater diversity of voices. Kranich noted that she was scheduled to appear before the senate committee last fall, but the hearing was postponed. In that testimony, ALA recommended a public access model with a funding mechanism very similar to the public telecommunications infrastructure fund in S. 2195. Kranich said she was pleased to see this concept incorporated by Sen. Inouye. *************************************************************************** SENATE COMMITTEE APPROVES FY 1995 LIBRARY FUNDING The FY 1995 Appropriations bill for Labor, Health and Human Services and Education was approved on July 20 by the Senate Appropriations subcommittee, with full committee action the same day (S. Rept. 103-318). The bill could reach the Senate floor some time this week. A major difference from the House bill was inclusion of LSCA II-Public Library Construction, which the Appropriations Committee restored to $17,792,000. Senator Mark Hatfield (R-OR) thanked subcommittee members for this "valuable seed money" which allows communities to leverage more dollars for library construction. Of currently funded Higher Education Act library programs, the HEA II-B library education and training component was continued at $4,916,000, the same as the House number. LSCA Title III, Interlibrary Cooperation, was increased to $25,327,000, and the report language said "The Committee encourages States to use the additional funds provided over the 1994 level to establish electronic library gateways for access to public, academic, and research library collections." HEA II-B, Library Research and Demonstrations, received $8,270,000, with the Committee directing the Secretary of Education to use $2,500,000 of the funds to continue the demonstration begun in FY 1994 of a statewide bibliographic database providing online and dial-in access through a fiber optic network housing a point of presence in every county and connecting library services in every municipality. Also, the Committee directed the Department to use $1,500,000 to : "fund a research and demonstration project at a consortium of public, private, and special purpose libraries which are dedicated to joint planning and development in an urban, multistate environment. The consortium must use the Internet, a precursor to the national research and education network, as its telecommunication system, and must operate on a broad funding base which includes a State appropriation, private foundation support and member fees." The report further stated that the Committee added $3,994,000 to the program for demonstration projects involving the digitization of research library collections and the development of related organizational tools for access to these digital resources. Pressure on the Appropriations Committee to eliminate programs on the Administration's "Reinventing Government" hit list was intense. The Senate committee managed to comply creatively, but switching HEA II-A and II-C funds to HEA II-B and LSCA III programs. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), chairperson of the subcommittee announced the elimination of 25 programs that had been on the "Reinventing Government" list. Not funded by the Senate was the HEA II-D, historically black colleges and universities library and information science program which had received $1.5 million in the House bill. FY 1995 Library Program Appropriations (amounts in thousands) Program FY94 FY95 Admin. FY95 House FY95 Senate Appropriation Request Passed Passed Library Services & Construction Act $ 128,866 $ 102,976 $ 111,080 $ 134,372 I pub. lib. services 83,227 83,227 83,482 83,227 II library construction 17,792 0 0 17,792 III, interlib. cooperation 19,749 19,749 19,572 25,327 IV, Indian lib. service 2 % of LSCA I, II, and III V, foreign lang. materials 0 0 0 0 VI, library literacy progs. 8,098 0 8,026 8,026 Higher Education Act $ 17,443 $ 0 $ 6,416 $ 13,186 II-A, college lib. tech. & cooperation 3,873 0 0 0 II-B, library education 4,960 0 4,916 4,916 II-B, library research & demonstrations 2,802 0 0 8,270 II-C, research library resources 5,808 0 0 0 II-D, HBCU library & info. science 0 0 1,500 0 U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science $ 904 $ 901 $ 901 $ 901 National Library of Medicine (incl. MLAA) $ 118,019 $ 138,521 $ 126,220 $ 127,274 The Senate Committee included funding for Goals 2000 at about $428.4 million, more than the House request of $388.4 million. Some budget line items reflected the still to be enacted ESEA reauthorization, S. 1513, and included line items for Eisenhower and Chapter 2 programs combined at $667.5 million, with final allocations to be determined after passage of the legislation. The educational technology component proposed under S. 1513 was included at $30 million, and during the subcommittee markup an amendment proposed by Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) to transfer $20 million to that Title was approved, bringing the allocation up to $50 million. S. 1513 would set aside 10-20 percent of this $50 million for school library resources. The Committee also included funding for school facilities at $100 million. The school facilities section of S. 1513 would provide for construction and renovation of school library media centers and other school facilities. ACTION NEEDED: Library supporters should thank Senate appropriations sub- committee and committee members for their support of library programs. If your Senator is not on either the Appropriations subcommittee or committee, ask him or her to vote for H.R. 4606 when it comes to the Senate floor. Stress the importance of library programs and give examples of how effectively LSCA and HEA funds work in your state. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is an irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office, 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E., Washington, DC 20002-5675. Internet: alawash@alawash.org; Phone: 202-547-4440; Fax: 202-547-7363. Editor: Lee G. Enyart (lge@alawash.org). 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