****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 42 August 15, 1994 In this issue: (174 lines) SENATE PASSES ESEA BILL--CONFERENCE NEXT--ACTION NEEDED SENATE COMMITTEE APPROVES S. 1822 *************************************************************************** SENATE-PASSED ESEA BILL HEADS TO HOUSE-SENATE CONFERENCE The Senate version of the Improving America's Schools Act (S. 1513) was passed on August 2, by a vote of 94-6, with Senator Paul Simon's (D-IL) school library resources provision intact. Under this provision in the Senate reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, 10 to 20 percent of title III, part A, Educational Technology for All Students, would be set aside for school library media resources in any format, including books and foreign language materials. Under the House-passed ESEA bill number, H.R. 6, the measure now goes to House-Senate conference. The House-passed bill includes a separate provision for school library resources. However, the Senate version has received funding in a separate appropriations bill (H.R. 4606), while the House version has no chance of being funded in FY95. The Senate has provided $50 million for title III educational technology; the House, $20 million. A portion ofthis funding would be targeted for school library resources if the Senate prevails in conference on H.R. 6. School librarychampions (and conferees) Senator Simon and Rep. Jack Reed (D-RI) and their staffs have been discussing the best conference strategy on behalf of assistance to school libraries and their users. . . .SMITH-HELMS AMENDMENT ADOPTED ON SENATE ESEA BILL - ACTION NEEDED During Senate floor debate on reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Senate adopted on August 1 and 2 an amendment developed by Sen. Robert C. Smith (R-NH) and Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC). The amendment would provide that no local educational agency receiving funds under the Improving America's Schools Act (HR 6) "shall implement or carry out a program or activity that has either the purpose or effect of encouraging or supporting homosexuality as a positive lifestyle alternative. The definition of program or activity, for purposes of the amendment, "includes the distribution of instructional materials,instruction, counseling, or other services on school grounds, or referral of a pupil to an organization that affirms a homosexual lifestyle." Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee Chairman Edward Kennedy (D-MA), the manager of the Senate version of HR 6, engaged in enough parliamentary maneuvering to give him standing to remove this language in House-Senate conference on HR 6. The vote most directly related to the Smith-Helms language (63-36 on August 1) had more to do with election year politics than to real agreement with the amendment. Many Senators voted for the amendment to avoid election year ramifications of a "no" vote, with the hope that House-Senate conferees would remove the language later. House-Senate conferees are beginning to meet, but may not complete work on this large and complex bill before the August recess. ACTION NEEDED: To assist in the removal of this language, library constituents should contact Senate conferees immediately. The message: Remove the Smith-Helms amendment in House-Senate conference on HR 6. Contact especially the following Senators: SENATOR FAX NUMBER - (202) Nancy Kassebaum (R-KS) 224-3514 James Jeffords (R-VT) 224-8330 Dan Coats (R-IN) 228-4137 Judd Gregg (R-NH) 224-4952 Strom Thurmond (R-SC) 224-1300 Orrin Hatch (R-UT) 224-6331 Dave Durenberger (R-MN) 224-9931 Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) 224-2852 Harris Wofford (D-PA) 224-4161 Tom Harkin (D-IA) 224-3254 Any Senator's office can be reached by phone through the Senate switchboard at 202-224-3121. *************************************************************************** SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE APPROVES TELECOMMUNICATIONS BILL On August 11, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee approved a substitute version of S. 1822, the Communications Act of 1994 sponsored by committee chairman Ernest Hollings (D-SC). The vote was 18-2, with Senators Bob Packwood (R-OR) and John McCain (R-AZ) voting against the bill. TELECOM. COMPETITION. Under certain conditions, including requirements for separate subidiaries, the regional Bell telephone companies would be allowed to enter long-distance markets. Under the same requirements for unbundling of local networks, telephone companies would be allowed entry into cable TV service. Cable companies could provide telephone service one year after enactment of the bill, would then be regulated as common carriers, and would be required to contribute to the provision of universal service. Local telephone service would be opened up to competition from cable companies, long distance companies, or other competitors. All local competitors would be classified as common carriers, regulated as such (although the Federal Communications Commission could forbear from regulating carriers when it determined it was in the public interest), and required to contribute to universal service. PUBLIC RIGHTS-OF-WAY AND ACCESS. In its universal service provisions, the bill includes two sections relating to protection of public networking capability. In section 103, Public Rights-of-Way, the bill requires that within a year of enactment, the FCC must promulgate regulations to require that telecommunications networks reserve up to 5 percent of capacity for public uses at incremental cost based rates (no more than the directly attributable cost of the service). Entities eligible to make use of this capacity include public and nonprofit libraries,educational institutions at all levels, public telecommunications entities, and certain nonprofit organizations. The actual amount of capacity, which must be of the best quality available, may depend on factors such as the type of technology used, and the requirement may not apply for networks that have clearly sufficient open architecture, capacity, and nondiscriminatory access. Such reserved capacity must be used by eligible entities for provision of educational, informational, cultural, civic, or charitable services directly to the general public at no charge, and may not be sold or resold. Section 104, Public Access, requires that within a year of enactment certain public institutional telecommunications users must be provided with universal service, and separate definitions of universal service may apply to them. These entities include public or nonprofit libraries, accredited elementary or secondary schools open to the public, and public or nonprofit health care facilities, museums, and public broadcast stations. The FCC is also to include the amount of support payments reasonably necessary to provide universal service to such users under the billl's universal service fund to which all telecommunications carriers must contribute. For these public institutional telecommunications users, the FCC is also to establish rules to enhance the availability of advanced telecommunications and information services, to require preferential rates, to ensure appropriate functional requirements and/or performance standards (including interoperability), and to define the circumstances under which a carrier may be required to connect such users. These provisions combine certain elements of Senator Daniel Inouye's public telecommunications infrastructure bill, S. 2195, and the universal service and preferential rate provisions of the original S. 1822. In doing so, the bill takes significant steps toward protecting public access to advanced telecommunications services. Nevertheless, some shortcomings remain in these sections. S. 2195 provided for reservation of up to 20 percent of capacity at no charge to the eligible entities using this capacity for public purposes. Such users would pay incremental costs under the committee substitute for S. 1822. Incremental costs is a very meaninful form of preferential rates, but given the change from free to incremental costs, a limitation of 5 percent of capacity seems inappropriate. Further, the requirement in section 103 that eligible entities must use the capacity only for services provided free to the general public would seem to make the provision problemmatic for educational institutions serving students, teachers, and faculty. In section 104, only schools are included, not higher education institutions--although the designation of nonprofit libraries would include those in schools and colleges. The _Washington Post_ on August 12 indicated that Senator Howard Metzenbaum (D-OH), who chairs a Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust matters, would hold a hearing on the bill on September 20. Thus, the timing of Senate floor action on S. 1822 is uncertain as Congress heads toward an early October adjournment of this election-year session. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** 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). ALAWON is available free of charge and is available only in electronic form. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe ala-wo [your name]" to listserv@uicvm (Bitnet) or listserv@uicvm.uic.edu (Internet). Back issues and other documents are available from the list server. To find out what's available, send the message "send ala-wo filelist" to the listserv. The ALA-WO filelist contains the list of files with the exact filename and filetype. To get a particular file, issue the command "send filename filetype" to the listserv. Do not include the quotes in your commands. All materials in the newsletter subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. For other reprinting or redistribution, address requests to the ALA Washington Office (alawash@alawash.org). *************************************************************************** ***End of file******************End of file******************End of file***