ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 12, Number 35 April 24, 2003 In This Issue: [1] FCC Adopts Changes to E-Rate Rules; [2] Library Representatives Appointed to E-Rate Task Force [1] FCC Adopts Changes to E-Rate Rules Yesterday, April 23, 2003 the Federal Communications Commission adopted additional rules and clarified existing rules for the E-rate program. The rules were written partially based on responses to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (CC 02-6) in which the ALA participated last year. While the Commission did not address all of the issues raised by the NPRM, it made the following changes: + Persons convicted of criminal violations or held civilly liable for misconduct arising from participation in the program will be debarred from participation for three years or longer. + Services that deliver the same functionality to the same people during the same period of time will not be funded. + Voice mail will be included as a service eligible for support. + Wireless services are eligible for support in the same manner as wireline services. + The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) will develop a pilot program to create an online list of eligible equipment. + Applicants can elect to pay their service provider the full discounted cost of services received. In addition to this order, the FCC adopted a Further Notice get public feedback on several additional issues and proposed rules. The Further Notice asks about 1) the feasibility of an online computerized eligible services list for telecommunications services and Internet access, 2) procedures implementing the FCC's decision to carry forward unused funds from the program in subsequent funding years, and 3) whether to expand the circumstances under which persons may be debarred from involvement in the program, including debarment for willful or repeated violators of FCC rules. Once the actual notice is published ALA will provide additional details. Notably, all of the Commissioners were verbally very supportive of the E-rate during the meeting. Commissioners Copps and Adelstein brought up additional issues they wished to address for the long term health of the program, such as adjustments to discount levels, baselines for services, and reasonable lifespans for equipment. Commissioner Abernathy promoted the E-rate Forum she will host on May 8. Two ALA E-rate Task Force members will be speaking at the Forum: Charles Parker on behalf of the Task Force and Tony Wening for state networks. [2] Library Representatives Appointed to E-Rate Task Force Two representatives from the library community were appointed to the SLD's Task Force on the Prevention of Waste, Fraud and Abuse in the E-Rate. The Task Force was designed to identify areas where improvements can be made in the E-rate program and will recommend specific actions to combat potential waste, fraud and abuse by both E-Rate service providers and applicants. The Task Force is composed of 14 members of the applicant and service provider communities, including library representatives Wayne Hay of the Westchester Library System (NY), and Tony Wening of the Missouri Research & Education Network. Both representatives have served on the ALA E-Rate Task Force. Members of the Task Force will meet to review every aspect of the E-rate program where waste, fraud and abuse can occur and will produce a final report to USAC in early summer summarizing its recommendations. ****** 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, Patrice McDermott and Miriam Nisbet. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Jennifer Hendrix, Carrie Russell, Claudette Tennant. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.