****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 5, Number 9 March 11, 1996 In this issue: (129 lines) SENATE ACTION NEEDED ON ISTOOK FCC RELEASES NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULEMAKING ON UNIVERSAL SERVICE ***************************************************************** SENATE ACTION NEEDED ON ISTOOK The following alert has been issued by OMB Watch, part of a coalition ALA has been working with on the Istook amendment: The Senate is taking up the Omnibus Appropriations bill, S. 1594, today and tomorrow. Calls are needed to your Senators urging them to pass a bill without any Istook-like provisions attached, and to urge the House to withdraw both Section 507 and the Istook Amendment from their bill, H.R. 3019, in any subsequent conference between the two chambers. Senators Hatfield (R-OR), Jeffords (R-VT) and Simpson (R-WY) are key, as always. The general number to reach any senator is 202-224-3121. At this point we do not have any word on whether or not an Istook-like amendment will be offered on the Senate floor, but we do not expect one. It is also important to continue make calls to House members, because the House-Senate conference to work out any differences between the two versions must take place this week. (Details about the objectionable House provisions were reported in ALAWON, Vol. 5, No. 7, March 7, 1996.) *************************************************************** FCC RELEASES NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULEMAKING ON UNIVERSAL SERVICE On Friday, March 8, the Federal Communications Commission released its _Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order Establishing Joint Board_. The first deadline for initial comments is April 8. The Reply Comments are due May 3, 1996. This NPRM is the first major step in implementation of the new universal service section of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Under Section 254 of the law, the FCC has initiated this rulemaking to: 1) define the services that will be supported by Federal universal service support mechanisms; 2) define those support mechanism; and 3) otherwise recommend changes to FCC regulations to implement the universal service directives of the 1996 Act. Among the numerous and complex issues to be addressed in this NPRM, is the provision for access to advanced telecommunications services at discounted rates for libraries, schools, and rural health care providers, known as the Snowe-Rockefeller-Kerrey-Exon amendment during the legislative process. Interested library advocates are encouraged to review the NPRM and consider filing comments. ALA will be preparing comments and will provide additional analysis of the NPRM shortly. We anticipate that the document should be online at the FCC, although it had not been mounted at this writing. The Joint Board, authorized by the new act, is comprised of three FCC Commissioners, four state utilities commissioners nominated by the National Association of Regulatory Utilities Commissioners (NARUC), and one consumer advocate nominated by the National Association of State Utilities Consumer Advocates (NASUCA). The Joint Board members are: From the FCC: Chairman Reed Hundt (who will chair the Joint Board) Commissioner Andrew Barrett Commissioner Susan Ness From NARUC: Sharon Nelson, Washington State Utility and Transportation Commission Laska Schoenfelder, South Dakota Public Utility Commission Ken McClure, Missouri Public Service Commission Julia Johnson, Florida Public Service Commission From NASUCA: Martha Hogorty, Missouri Public Counsel Advocates wishing to contact the FCC commissioners or the Joint Board should make sure they follow all appropriate ex parte legal procedures. Watch for additional details. The comment and reply deadlines are extremely short so clear and quick responses to the critical deadlines will be necessary. ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is an irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20004. Internet: alawash@alawash.org; Phone: 202-628-8410; Fax: 202-628-8419. Contributing to this issue: Anne A. Heanue; Editor: Lynne E. Bradley (leb@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 listserv 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 File****************End File*****************End File**** *****************************************************************