ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 12, Number 87
September 25, 2003

In This Issue: MUSEUM AND LIBRARY SERVICES ACT SIGNED INTO LAW
BY PRESIDENT-ACTION NEEDED ON FUNDING FOR FY2004

At approximately 10 o'clock on September 25, President Bush signed H.R. 13, the Museum and Library Services Act of 2003 into law.  The legislation sets the authorization level for library programs at $232 million.  If funding is achieved at that level, the new formula distribution would take place and the base amount given to each state would double.  Since the formula was first set in 1971, this change would help small states, while holding harmless large states.  The legislation reauthorizes the Museum and Library Services Act until 2009.  

ACTION NEEDED:
As you know, Congress is still engaged in finishing the appropriations bills or funding for programs for FY2004.  Now that we have a new piece of legislation, we would like to thank the Members of House and Senate for passing the legislation, but also point out to them the need for funding the law at the proposed level of $232 million for library programs.  Unless all Members of Congress hear from library supporters in large emphatic numbers, libraries will get less funding than that in FY2003. We urge all of you to participate in this effort.
 
We have put together sample letters for each state with exactly what the amount would be for state library programs if appropriators fund the Museum and Library Services Act at the stipulated levels.  You may find your state sample letter on the web site at: http://www.ala.org/ogr - click on "Hot Topics".                      Please insert information on how these funds benefit residents of your state and what the state critical information needs are.  We hope you can use this material to thank legislators for their work and urge them to ask appropriators for the full amount of funding for library programs.

We expect appropriators from House and Senate to be working on the remaining appropriations bills during the month of October.  The appropriations bills for FY2004 for Labor, Health and Human Services and Education contain the funding for library programs under the Institute for Museum and Library Services.  The bill numbers are H.R. 2660 for the House bill and S. 1356 for the Senate.  We will update you on the progress of the conference on the two bills, which has yet to occur.


******
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; Kathy Mitchell, Carrie Russell. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.