================================================================= ALAWON Volume 6, Number 116 ISSN 1069-7799 December 18, 1997 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (158 lines) UNFINISHED LEGISLATION FOR THE SECOND SESSION OF THE 105TH CONGRESS _________________________________________________________________ UNFINISHED LEGISLATION FOR THE SECOND SESSION OF THE 105TH CONGRESS NOTE: This is the second of two ALAWONs on the 105th Congress. The first part, "FY98 LABOR, HHS, EDUCATION APPROPRIATIONS IN THE FIRST SESSION OF THE 105TH CONGRESS," was the subject of a previous ALAWON (v.6, n.109, December 9, 1997). At the end of January, 1998, when legislators return to hear the President's State of the Union message on January 27, the 105th Congress will face a number of issues held over from the first session. This list includes just a few of those issues important to libraries, librarians and their users. THE READING EXCELLENCE ACT; AMERICA READS--SENATE ACTION AHEAD On October 22, the Reading Excellence Act, H.R. 2614, was approved in amended form by the House Committee on Education and Workforce. Committee Chair William Goodling (R-PA) had introduced the bill on October 6 as an alternative to H.R. 1516, the Administration's America Reads Challenge initiative. The full House approved H.R. 1614 by voice vote on November 8. Included in the legislation are key library amendments. One adds a school or public library that offers reading or literacy programs for children or families to the list of optional members of a State's Reading and Literacy Partnership. The other amendment gives funding priority to applicants able to demonstrate a contractual association with one or more public libraries providing reading or literacy services to preschool children or preschool children and their families. It is expected that the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee will consider the bill in the new session. According to the language of the FY98 Labor HHS Education Appropriations bill, the children's literacy funding of $ 210 million that was set-aside for FY99 will be used only if authorizing legislation is passed by Congress by July 1, 1998. COPYRIGHT --NEW LEGISLATION--SPONSORS NEEDED On September 3, 1997, Senator John Ashcroft (R-MO) introduced S. 1146, The Digital Copyright Clarification and Technology Act of 1997. A similar bill, H.R. 3048, The Digital Era Copyright Enhancement Act, was introduced in the House by Reps. Rick Boucher (D-VA) and Tom Campbell (R-CA) on November 13. Designed to update the U.S. Copyright Act for the electronic networked environment, H.R. 3048 would amend the Copyright Act to make clear that the needs of both information proprietors and consumers must be protected. Both bills are supported by ALA and the Digital Future Coalition. Further information on the details of the legislation can be found at the DFC web site (http://www.dfc.org). ACTION NEEDED: Library supporters are urged to ask their Senators and Representatives to add their names as sponsors to the legislation so that the bills can move forward. GOVERNMENT INFORMATION--ACTION TO COME Several bills have been introduced in recent years to revise Title 44 of the United States Code, the statute that governs printing and public dissemination of government information, but none have been enacted. Currently, the staff of the Joint Committee on Printing is working to produce a legislative proposal to revise the printing and publication law. A bill should be ready for introduction when the 105th Congress reconvenes, and hearings are expected. In February 1997, ALA initiated an Inter-Association Working Group on government information policy made up of representatives of national library organizations. The group has developed a consensus legislative proposal to revise the depository library chapter of Title 44. For further information on the Working Group see the IAWG web site at http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/GODORT/iawgpage.html. For general information and to see the testimony given to Congress thus far, see the ALA Washington Office web site at http://www.ala.org/washoff/govinfo.html. ADULT EDUCATION--REAUTHORIZATION PENDING Still awaiting final action is legislation to reauthorize adult education and vocational education programs. Reauthorization has reached the same impasse it reached the previous session. There seems to be a conflict with the idea of a block grant approach or "one stop shop" for these programs versus individual programs. HIGHER EDUCATION ACT--REAUTHORIZATION PENDING The Higher Education Act reauthorization which was begun early in 1997 has not yet been finalized by Congress, and the time frame has been extended for one year to September 1998 in order to complete the reauthorization process. The various approaches to HEA reauthorization by Congress, the Administration and the higher education community, are subtly different but can all be characterized as a "streamlining" approach to the Act. In the last few months before adjournment, the congressional hearings conducted on HEA reauthorization have targeted discussions on reorganization and consolidation of different student loan, financial aid, and related tax programs in order to make higher education more affordable for all. Title VI, International Education, is an area that impacts some academic libraries, since the international periodicals program (sec. 607), and the learning resource center program exists in this title. The Department of Education recently chose not to include Sec. 607 in their latest recommendations to Congress. COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT II On November 8, Senator Dan Coats (R-IN) introduced S. 1482, a bill to amend section 223 of the Communications Act of 1934 to establish a prohibition on commercial distribution on the world wide web of material that is harmful to minors. In his floor speech Coats stated that his legislation would accommodate the concerns of the Supreme Court articulated in their opinion on the Communications Decency Act and that his legislation states that "Whoever in interstate or foreign commerce in or through the World Wide Web is engaged in the business of the commercial distribution of material that is harmful to minors shall restrict access to such material by persons under 17 years of age." ALA is studying this legislation. JUVENILE JUSTICE S.10, legislation introduced by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) primarily focusing on judicial remedies, sentencing and detention, was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on October 9, and reached a Senate floor calendar, but no completed action was taken before the end of session. In the House, H.R. 1818, a bill introduced by Rep. Frank Riggs (R-CA), and including a Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Block Grant program, was approved by the House, but no action has yet been taken by the Senate. Because the two bills are different, but related, it is possible that they may be merged into one bill. Some libraries have been successful in the past in obtaining grants for juvenile programs from Juvenile Delinquency Prevention funds. _________________________________________________________________ ALAWON is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. To subscribe, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc @ala.org. To unsubscribe, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/ washoff/alawon. Visit our Web site at http://www.alawash.org. ALA Washington Office 202.628.8410 (V) 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, #403 202.628.8419 (F) Washington, DC 20004-1701 800.941.8478 (V) Lynne E. Bradley, Editor Deirdre Herman, Managing Editor Contributors: Mary Costabile All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. =================================================================