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                                                             ISSN 1069-7799
                                  ALAWON
                      ALA Washington Office Newsline
                     An electronic publication of the
              American Library Association Washington Office

                            Volume 4, Number 28
                               March 23, 1995

   In this issue: (103 lines)
     SENATE COMMITTEE MARKS UP NEW TELECOMMUNICATIONS BILL - ACTION NEEDED

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           SENATE COMMITTEE MARKS UP NEW TELECOMMUNICATIONS BILL
                               ACTION NEEDED

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee conducted a mark
up session on a new telecommunications bill on March 23 demonstrating bi-
partisan support for this latest effort to update the Communications Act of
1934.  Committee Chair Sen. Larry Pressler (R-SD) conducted the mark up,
even though the bill had not been officially filed or even completed, until
the early morning hours of the 23rd.

Pressler and other senators, including Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-SC),
acknowledged the various staff members who had worked long hours into the
middle of the previous night.  Their staff and others had been constantly
working on "negotiating" the language of the bill recently, amidst heavy
pressure from the many parts of the telecommunications industry.  Since
Pressler scheduled the mark up session a few weeks ago, staff had been
working on two discussion drafts, one authored by Pressler and the other by
Hollings in the hopes of developing a bi-partisan bill.

At this writing, we have seen only the interim "discussion draft" from 
March 21, which was still not the final version given to the committee for
mark up.  There is still no bill number and the official publication of the
bill was not yet available.  This report is based on the proceedings at the
mark up where there were no draft copies or other materials available for
the public. 

The bill discussed was substantially the Pressler discussion draft with
some elements that grew from the bi-partisan discussions.  The legislation
follows through on Pressler's commitment to provide for major deregulation
and promote competition in all areas of telecommunications.  In the days
before the mark up there were frequent changes in many parts of the
legislation as negotiations went on to the last minute.  Public access
clauses, including the parts related to libraries and schools, were rumored
to be changed several times this week alone.

Pending review of the actual language in the bill voted out of the
committee, it appears that some public access provisions were included
though weaker than last year's version of S. 1822.  Senators Olympia Snowe
(R-ME) and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) cosponsored one amendment addressing
universal service for rural public schools and libraries.  Part of the
discussion of their amendment was about the definition of "rural" as well
as what entities would be covered under their amendment.  The Snowe-
Rockefeller amendment narrowly passed in a roll call vote.

Senator John Kerry (D-MA) discussed an anti-redlining amendment to ensure
that telecommunications providers could not gerrymander around seemingly
less popular communities in developing and providing telecommunications
services.  This and other amendments may be added on the Senate floor.

Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA), for himself and Senator James Exon (D-NE),
added an amended version of S. 314, the Exon "Communications Decency Act of
1995", to the telecommunications legislation.  The committee accepted their
amendment.  Once ALAWON has obtained the final language and a bill number a
more complete report will be published.
 
ACTION NEEDED:  The bill will now go to the Senate floor.  All senators
should be contacted and asked to support the public access provisions. 
Senators should also be asked if they could strengthen public access
provisions such as incremental cost-based rates for schools and libraries,
and universal service and anti-redlining clauses.  Watch for more details
as they become available.  ALAWON appreciates the many library supporters
who called their senators on this committee.  

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