ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 10, Number 91
January 14, 2002

In this issue: 

New amendments proposed to  UCITA likely to trigger new legislative interest in 2002

1. New UCITA amendments do not include library proposals
2. Joint UCITA Task Force will brief members on what to expect in 2002


1. New UCITA amendments do not include library proposals

After holding three days of amendment hearings in November, the UCITA Standby Drafting Committee of the National Conference of Commissioners of Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) issued a press release on December 20, 2001with recommendations for 19 proposed amendments to UCITA. The amendments purport to "address the concerns expressed during the November meeting." While the library amendment proposals were not accepted,  NCCUSL did provide a lengthy discussion to the library arguments regarding UCITA. Their discussion greatly misrepresents the library opinions that have been consistently offered over the last 3 years. 


Although the drafting committee did offer a narrow amendment providing an exception for libraries, it rejected library proposals for a more far-reaching amendment addressing our concerns. The amendment proposed for inclusion into the official version of UCITA was drafted by the NCCUSL committee and not by the libraries. It allows for the donation or transfer of software to a public library or a public elementary or secondary school as long as the software is donated with the computer. The  19  amendments will be voted on by NCCUSL later in the year but could be incorporated into specific state versions of UCITA in the meantime.

It is expected that these amendments will be used by the proponents of UCITA to regenerate support for the proposed state law in the wake of many unsuccessful legislative efforts in 2001. The AFFECT coalition press release issued on Jan. 4, 2002 stated , "The proposed amendments give the appearance of compromise, without the substance of compromise. When scrutinized, the proposed amendments simply make a fundamentally flawed piece of legislation only slightly less flawed." ALA and the other major library associations are founding members of AFFECT (Americans for Fair Electronic Commerce Transactions)  the leading national coalition of business, consumer and non-profit organizations opposing UCITA. 

The latest amendment proposals will pose new challenges for library opponents who must be able to counter the perception that the new changes have solved the problems with UCITA. Go to<ala.org/washoff/ucita/resources.html to view both the AFFECT and ALA response to NCCUSL's report. 

2. Joint UCITA Task Force will brief members in New Orleans

The Joint Chapter Relations and Committee on Legislation Task Force on UCITA  will conduct the only meeting at mid-winter conference that will specifically address the latest developments regarding UCITA. The meeting is open to all members and will review the implications of the American Bar Association review of UCITA and the new NCCUSL amendment package for the upcoming legislative year. The Task Force meets Sun. Jan. 20 from 10 - 11 a.m. at MCC 241. 

For copies of new UCITA materials go the WO conference website: www.ala.org/washoff/conferenceindex.html



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ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff.  Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Camille Bowman, Mary Costabile, Don Essex, Miriam Nisbet and Claudette Tennant. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Jennifer Hendrix, Carrie Russell. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.