****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 57 October 5, 1994 In this issue: (139 lines) CLOTURE VOTE *************************************************************************** CLOTURE VOTES PASSES SENATE--FINAL ESEA VOTE EXPECTED This morning at 10:45, the Senate successfully voted to invoke cloture on H.R. 6, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization, by a vote of 75-24. At the conclusion of the vote it seemed that the Senate would then take up the conference report, but a Republican call for a quorum diffused the momentum and Senator Mitchell then took the floor and said by agreement of the Majority and Minority leaders, the vote would occur at 5:30 p.m. today on final passage of the conference report. MANY THANKS: Thanks to all library supporters who made telephone calls this week, asking for a favorable vote on cloture and a favorable vote on final passage of the conference report. What seemed to be a very gloomy picture on Monday was turned quickly into a bright one, but only because of repeated contacts from those in the field. We will issue another ALAWON, when we know the final vote results. FINAL LANGUAGE FOR SMITH-HELMS AMENDMENT ON ESEA As reported from the conference committee on H.R. 6, the following is text of the Smith-Helms amendment reported out of the conference committee: Sex Issues (a) PROHIBITIONS. None of the funds authorized under this Act shall be used: (1) to develop or distribute materials, or operate programs or courses of instruction directed at youth that are designed to promote or encourage, sexual activity, whether homosexual or heterosexual; (2) to distribute or to aid in the distribution by any organization of legally obscene materials to minors on school grounds; (3) to provide sex education or HIV prevention education in schools unless such instruction is age appropriate and includes the health benefits of abstinence; or (4) to operate a program of condom distribution in schools. (b) LOCAL CONTROL--Nothing in this section shall be construed to: (1) authorize an officer or employee of the federal government to mandate, direct, review or control a state, local education agency, or schools' instructional content, curriculum, and related activities; (2) limit the application of the General Educational Provisions Act; (3) require the distribution of scientifically or medically false or inaccurate materials or to prohibit the distribution of scientifically or medically true or accurate materials; or (4) create any legally enforceable right. CURLEY'S STATE ON LEGISLATIVE APPROPRIATIONS In a September 8 letter, ALA President Arthur Curley urged President Clinton to reconsider the interpretations announced as he signed into law P.L. 103-283, the Legislative Branch Appropriations Branch Act for FY95 (see the August 17 ALA Washington Newsletter, p. 7). Curley wrote that ALA believes that "these interpretations are ill-advised and inconsistent with law and sound public policy. Their implementation will undermine the ability of librarians and others to provide access to government information in every part of the nation." Curley identified three major problems with the signing statement: "1. Restricting procurement through the Government Printing Office 'to procurement of documents intended primarily for distribution to and use b the general public' undermines the statutory scheme of the printing laws found in TItle 44 UNITED STATES CODE. There is no such restruction on the procurement of government documents in current law. This interpretationcould mean that key documents like the UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT MANUAL or the BUDGET OF THE UNITED STATES would not be procured through the Government Printing Office, and thereforenot made available to the public through depository libraries or GPO's sales program. "2. Interpreting the term duplicating 'to encompass only the reproducton inherent in traditional printing processes, such as compositon and press work, and not reproduced by other mans, such as laser printers or photocopying machines,' overlooks the factthat GPO has for the past twenty years produced and procured printing executed through electronic technologies such as laser printers and photocopying machines. "3. Citing 'serious constitutional concerns' regading the legislative branch appropriations bill overlooks the fact that printing statutes have been in place for nearly a century and a half--wit both executive and legislative branch support--and have not been challenged in court." Instead of implementing restrictive interpretations of P.L. 133-283, Curley urged President Clinton to: * "Insist that federal agencies comply with their statutory requirements to provide publications to the Depository Library Program." * "Encourage the Office of Management and Budget to promote the Depository Library Program with federal agencies, so that agencies view depository libraries as sites in every Congressional district through which they can fullfill their informaiton dissemination responsibilities." * "Expand the distribution of electronci products and services to depositories and the general public through the GPO Access system established when [the President] signed P.L. 103-40, the Government Printing Office Electronic Information Access Enhancement Act of 1993." FINAL NUMBERS $$$ Anne's article: *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** 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. 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