ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 11, Number 3 February 4, 2002 In this issue: 1. FURTHER IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS ACT¾ EXECUTIVE ORDER NULLIFICATION LEGISLATION 2. ALA COUNCIL PASSES AND ADOPTS COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION RESOLUTION CONCERNING THE PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS ACT 3. ALA COUNCIL APPROVES THE CREATION OF A TASK FORCE TO RESEARCH POLICY REGARDING GOVERNMENT INFORMATION ISSUES 1. FURTHER IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS ACT¾ EXECUTIVE ORDER NULLIFICATION LEGISLATION In the near future, key committee members will likely initiate action to nullify Executive Order 13,233 (Further Implementation of the Presidential Records Act) issued by President Bush on November 1, 2001. As reported by Bruce Craig of the National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History (NCCPH), Dan Burton (R-IN), Chair of the House Committee on Government Reform and Henry Waxman (D-CA), the Committee's Ranking Democrat plan to introduce nullification legislation ¾ the "Access to Presidential Records Act." The legislation should receive bi-partisan support and would result in the President's Executive Order having no force or effect. Now is the time to take action and urge support of the Burton/Waxman legislation. Contact your representatives in the House and ask them to co-sponsor the legislation. The Capitol switchboard telephone number is (202) 224-3121. Send a clear message that the Bush Administration should uphold the original intent of the Presidential Records Act ¾ public accessibility to Presidential records. 2. ALA COUNCIL PASSES AND ADOPTS COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION RESOLUTION CONCERNING THE PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS ACT ALA Council passed and adopted a COL resolution, "Concerning the Executive Order 13,233, Further Implementation of the Presidential Records Act," at the Midwinter meeting in New Orleans on January 23. It was resolved that "the American Library Association urge[s] Congress to reaffirm the principles of public access embodied in the Presidential Records Act of 1978," and further resolved that "the American Library Association urge[s] Congress to amend the Presidential Records Act as necessary to reaffirm the intent of Congress that Presidential records be made generally available to the public with limited statutory restrictions by the end of twelve years." Thank you for supporting this vital and very important resolution. Additionally, COL recommended to the ALA Executive Board that ALA participate, at an appropriate time, in an amicus brief in American Historical Association v. National Archives and Records Administration and John W. Carlin. 3. ALA COUNCIL APPROVES THE CREATION OF A TASK FORCE TO RESEARCH POLICY REGARDING GOVERNMENT INFORMATION ISSUES The Committee on Legislation will establish an ad hoc task force on restrictions to government information. Task force membership will be drawn from GODORT, COL-GIS, Intellectual Freedom, ACRL, FAFLRT and other ALA units. The task force will gather information and make recommendations to COL on policy regarding government information issues in light of current security concerns. The task force will research many issues including the need to maintain publicly available bibliographic records for publications and web sites that are removed from public access; on obtaining legal advice regarding the government's authority to withdraw or restrict access to previously available government information when the public's right to know and the security concerns of our nation are in conflict; and the development of clear criteria and procedures for assessing public access to government information. A preliminary report of findings will be presented to COL at the 2002 Annual Conference. ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. 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.