****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 13 March 20, 1996 In this issue: (141 lines) OMNIBUS APPROPRIATIONS BILL PASSES SENATE ALA FILES REQUEST FOR EXTENSION OF TIME IN FCC RULEMAKING ON UNIVERSAL SERVICE ***************************************************************** OMNIBUS APPROPRIATIONS BILL PASSES SENATE On March 19, by a vote of 79-21, the Senate passed H.R. 3019, the omnibus appropriations bill for FY96, and named conferees to continue the process between House and Senate. It is expected that another short-term Continuing Resolution may be passed to give conferees time to come to closure on differences between House and Senate measures and also avert another government shut-down, since the current CR runs out on Friday, March 22. During debate on H.R. 3019, Senator Paul Simon (D-IL) did offer his amendment to restore $8 million for LSCA VI library literacy funds, but the amendment was then set aside while changes acceptable to the leadership were worked out. (See the Congressional Record, p. 2061, 3/14/96.) A modified Simon amendment was then passed by voice vote on March 19. While still including some additional funds for literacy programs, no funds were included for LSCA VI. The text of the amendment as finally approved can be found in the CR, p. S2280, 3/19/96. Later on March 19, a colloquy was conducted on the LSCA library literacy program between Senator Simon and Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), chair of the Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee (see CR S2286, 3/19/96). Senator Spector assured Senator Simon that "the committee intends that library literacy projects continue to receive support through the additional funds allocated for library services. I will work in Conference Committee with the House to ensure that the conference report reflects this intent." Senator Simon concluded that he would feel more comfortable if funds were appropriated specifically for this purpose. The Senate increased appropriations for education, adding $2.7 billion for education and job-training programs and increasing the chances of a signature by the President. The House funding levels are significantly lower for education and training overall. However, both House and Senate have now passed the same amounts for FY96 for Department of Education library programs -- a total of $127 million for LSCA, and $4.5 million for HEA II. Given the significant cuts in some programs, these amounts deserve thanks to House and Senate appropriators. ***************************************************************** ALA FILES REQUEST FOR EXTENSION OF TIME IN FCC RULEMAKING ON UNIVERSAL SERVICE ALA, in conjunction with a diverse coalition of public interest groups, submitted today, March 20, a formal _Request for Extension of Time_ to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Universal Service (Docket No. 96-45). The first deadline for formal comments in this docket is April 8. The deadline for Reply Comments is May 3. In this request, ALA and 10 other organizations have requested a one month extension for both of these deadlines. One of the major arguments in the request reads as follows: Unlike large telecommunications companies, which have numerous lawyers, economists, lobbyists, and support personnel at their disposal, Commenters and their colleagues have limited human and monetary resources. Excessively harsh deadlines will force these organizations to file inadequate comments, or none at all. In the context of the universal service provisions of the Act, this would deprive the Commission of material necessary to compile an adequate record. Additionally, it was argued that the library and education groups especially rely on experts in our respective organizations who are spread throughout the country, thus making it difficult to obtain "approvals and consensus on certain issues...over night." It was also pointed out that the comment period is shortened by the religious holidays which fall near the end of the comment period. The NPRM was issued very late on Friday, March 8, thus not generally available until March 11, which effectively lost additional time. Other groups in the coalition signing the extension request include: the Consumer Federation of America, Alliance for Community Media, Benton Foundation, Center for Media Education, Consortium for School Networking, National Education Association, National School Boards Association, People for the American Way, United Church of Christ, Office of Communications, and the United States Catholic Conference. It is not known when the FCC will make a decision on the extension request; the decision might not be made until just before the April 8 deadline. ALA encourages all library advocates, state libraries, library associations, networks and others planning to file in this universal service proceeding, to continue to develop their filings based on the April deadline. Further information will be made available through ALAWON; there will also be a site on the ALA web page by the first part of next week with additional background as well as new updates. We will post an ALAWON with this information as soon as the file is available. ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 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: Mary Rae Costabile; 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**** *****************************************************************