****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 4, Number 11 February 17, 1995 In this issue: (237 lines) ACTION ALERT: IMMEDIATE RESPONSE NEEDED PUBLIC ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT INFORMATION THREATENED IN H.R. 830 WAIVER PROVISION ACTION ALERT: IMMEDIATE RESPONSE NEEDED NEW RESCISSION BILL PROPOSES CUTS TO SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM - SECOND RESCISSION BILL EXPECTED TO CUT LIBRARY PROGRAMS *************************************************************************** ACTION ALERT: IMMEDIATE RESPONSE NEEDED PUBLIC'S ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT INFORMATION THREATENED IN HR 830 WAIVER PROVISION H.R. 830, the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, is expected to be voted on in the House of Representatives on February 23. The bill contains a provision, Sec. 3506(d)(4)(D), that will determine how much money federal agencies can charge for information products and services. BACKGROUND: On February 6, 1995, Representative William Clinger (R-PA), introduced H.R. 830, which contained a new provision that would authorize the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to waive any limits on agency user fees for public information after an agency meets several criteria, including a notice published in the Federal Register. The waiver provision is new, and had not appeared in any previous versions of the bill. In S. 244, the Senate version, prices are LIMITED to dissemination costs. In H.R. 9, the first House version of the bill, prices were REQUIRED to be set at dissemination costs, unless certain conditions are met. Now in H.R. 830, prices are limited to dissemination cost, BUT that limit can be waived by the agency after putting a notice in the FEDERAL REGISTER and meeting some other broad criteria. The waiver provision would in effect gut the protection from excessive user fees that is in S. 244. In legislation introduced in earlier years the pricing limit would have been the "marginal" or "incremental" cost of dissemination, so that the public would pay only for what it cost to add the public to a dissemination system. The incremental cost rule is also in effect in various versions of the statutes covering the Government Printing Office and the Freedom of Information Act. It is also a concept that in recent years has received widespread acceptance from both public right-to-know advocates and vendors. Reportedly the waiver provision was added at the request of Sally Katzen, the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). Attention to this new waiver provision was diverted during last week's debate over the "West Provision" which was removed from H.R. 830 during mark-up. (See ALAWON, Vol. 4, No. 9 for a report on the West provision of H.R. 830 that would have given proprietary rights to government information to corporate interests.) On February 16, the American Library Association joined the American Association of Law Libraries, the Association of Research Libraries, and the Special Libraries Association, in sending a letter to Sally Katzen asking her to request that the waiver section be removed from H.R. 830. The letter expresses concern that agencies would be allowed to charge fees in excess of costs for access to government information by obtaining a waiver from the Director of Office of Management and Budget. The letter said, in part: "We believe these potentially excessive fees are contrary to sound government information policy and contrary to policies embodied in OMB Circular A-130 and earlier drafts of the Paperwork Reduction Act." Such a waiver clause potentially removes the limits on pricing which guarantees timely, equal and equitable access to government information. The following is the pricing provision language as it presently stands in HR 830: Sec. 3506 (d) With respect to information dissemination each agency shall - (4) not, except where specifically authorized by statute - (A) establish an exclusive, restricted, or other distribution arrangement that interferes with timely and equitable availability of public information to the public; (B) restrict or regulate the use, resale, or redissemination of public information by the public; (C) charge fees or royalties for resale or redissemination of public information; or (D) establish user fees for public information that exceed the cost of dissemination, except that the Director may waive the application of this subparagraph to an agency, if - (i) the head of the agency submits a written request to the Director, publishes a notice of the request in the FEDERAL REGISTER, and provides a copy of the request to the public upon request; (ii) the Director sets forth in writing a statement of the scope conditions, and duration of the waiver and the reasons for granting it, and makes such statement available to the public upon request; and (iii) the granting of the waiver would not materially impair the timely and equitable availability of public information to the public. ACTION NEEDED: Library supporters and others concerned about the public's access to government information, are urged to contact their Congressional Representative and urge strong opposition to the user fee waiver provision in H.R. 830. Ask your Member of Congress to offer a floor amendment to amend H.R. 830 by striking everything, starting with "except," in Section 3506 (d)(4)(D), thus limiting user fees to the cost of dissemination. It is important to contact all Members of the House of Representatives, particularly members of the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. HOUSE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM AND OVERSIGHT Majority: Minority: William Clinger, (R-PA), Chair Cardiss Collins, (D-IL) Benjamin Gilman (R-NY) Henry Waxman (D-CA) Dan Burton (R-IN) Tom Lantos (D-CA) Constance Morella (R-MD) Robert Wise (D-WV) Christopher Shays (R-CT) Major R.Owens (D-NY) Steven Schiff (R-NM) Edolphus Towns (D-NY) Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) John Spratt (D-SC) William Zeliff, Jr. (R-NH) Louise Slaughter (D-NY) John McHugh (R-NY) Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) Stephen Horn (R-CA) Gary Condit (D-CA) John Mica (R-FL) Collin Peterson (D-MN) Peter Blute (R-MA) Karen Thurman (D-FL) Thomas Davis (R-VA) Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) David McIntosh (R-IN) Thomas Barrett (D-WI) Jon Fox (R-PA) Gene Taylor (D-MS) Randy Tate (R-WA) Barbara Rose Collins (MI), Dick Chrysler (R-MI) Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) Gil Gutknecht (R-MN) James Moran (D-VA) Mark Souder (R-IN) Gene Green (D-TX) William Martini (R-NJ) Carrie Meek D-FL) Joe Scarborough (R-FL) Frank Mascara (D-PA) John Shadegg (R-AZ) Chaka Fattah (D-PA) Michael Patrick Flanagan (R-IL) Charles Bass (R-NH) Steven LaTourette (R-OH) Marshall Sanford (R-SC) Robert Ehrlich (R-MD) Independent: Bernard Sanders (I-VT) *************************************************************************** ACTION ALERT: IMMEDIATE RESPONSE NEEDED NEW RESCISSION BILL PROPOSES CUTS TO SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM - SECOND RESCISSION BILL EXPECTED TO CUT LIBRARY PROGRAMS The House Labor HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. John Porter (R-IL), has reported the first of two proposed rescission bills, H.R. 845, (H. Rep. 104-30), which includes a cut in the school infrastructure program (in the newly re-authorized elementary and secondary education act) and funded for FY95 at $100,000,000. The other education- related cut is in the youth job training program. The bill is expected to go to the House floor for consideration along with a defense rescission bill. The next rescission bill expected from the committee will be a larger rescission bill proposed to include all programs proposed for rescission in the President's FY96 budget (LSCA VI-Literacy; and Higher Education Act II-B fellowships) as well as any programs on the National Performance Review cut list (LSCA II-Construction and all HEA library programs). It is expected that programs will also be targeted that received increases in FY95. This bill is expected to be reported by the subcommittee around February 23. ACTION NEEDED: Library supporters should contact House Labor HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee members to explain the importance of library programs. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES - SUBCOMMITTEE ON LABOR-HHS-EDUCATION Majority: Minority: John Edward Porter, IL, Chair David R. Obey, WI C.W. Bill Young, FL Louis Stokes, OH Henry Bonilla, TX Steny H. Hoyer, MD Ernest Jim Istook Jr., OK Nancy Pelosi, CA Dan Miller, FL Nita M. Lowey, NY Jay Dickey, AR Frank Riggs, CA Roger Wicer, MI SENATE - SUBCOMMITTEE ON LABOR-HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES-EDUCATION Majority: Minority: Arlen Specter, PA, Chair Tom Harkin, IA Mark Hatfield, OR Robert C. Byrd, WV Thad Cochran, MS Ernest F. Hollings, SC Slade Gorton, WA Daniel K. Inouye, HI Connie Mack, FL Dale Bumpers, AR Christopher S. Bond, MO Harry Reid, NV James M. Jeffords, VT Herb Kohl, WI Judd Gregg, NH *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is an irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office, 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E., Washington, DC 20002-5675. Internet: alawash@alawash.org; Phone: 202-547-4440; Fax: 202-547-7363. Contributing to this issue: Mary Costabile and Anne Heanue; 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 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. 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