================================================================= ALAWON Volume 7, Number 6 ISSN 1069-7799 January 16, 1998 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (125 lines) ALA RELEASES THIRD SPECIAL REPORT ON TELECOM DISCOUNTS FOR LIBRARIES CLARIFICATION ON "INTERNET TAX" RUMORS CBO ISSUES REPORT ON UNIVERSAL SERVICE _________________________________________________________________ ALA RELEASES THIRD SPECIAL REPORT ON LIBRARY TELECOM DISCOUNTS The ALA Office for Information Technology Policy released its Third Special Report on Library Telecom Discounts late last week. The Special Report is part of an ongoing series of bulletins keeping libraries informed of developments in the universal service program, which provides discounts to libraries and schools on telecommunications services, internet service, and internal connections. This Special Report addresses a number of issues that have been clarified by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Schools and Libraries Corporation (SLC) in recent weeks, including the application process, contracts, eligible services, the review of technology plans, and state discount programs. It also includes a list of additional resources for potential applicants, and a list of state library contacts. The Third Special Report is available online from the ALA website at http://www.ala.org/oitp/getdisc.html. _________________________________________________________________ CLARIFICATION ON "INTERNET TAX" RUMORS On January 8, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a factsheet clarifying that recent rumors of the FCC opening a proceeding on the "Internet tax" are not true. The following is excerpted from the factsheet: "In December 1996, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requested public comment on issues relating to the charges that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and similar companies pay to local telephone companies. On May 7, 1997, the FCC decided to leave the existing rate structure in place. In other words, the FCC decided not to allow local telephone companies to impose per-minute access charged on ISPs. Please Note: There is no open comment period in this proceeding. If you have recently seen a message on the Internet stating that in response to a request from local telephone companies, the FCC is requesting comments to by February 1998, be aware that this information is inaccurate. The FCC issued an unrelated public notice, DA 98-2, on January 5, 1998 in connection with a report to Congress on universal service. Pursuant to the FCC's 1998 appropriations legislation, the Commission must submit a report by April 10, 1998 on several issues including the legal status of Internet services under the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Comments in response to the public notice are due January 20, 1998, and reply comments are due February 2, 1998. Informal comments may be sent by email to ." Since the factsheet was revised, the FCC extended the filing deadlines to January 26 for comments and February 6 for reply comments. The full text of the FCC factsheet is available at http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Factsheets/ispfact.html. The January 5 public notice is available at http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Public_Notices/1998/da980002.html, and the order extending the deadlines is available at http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Orders/1998/da980063.html. Rumors have also been circulating recently on the Internet about the impact that a recently passed law will have on Internet pricing. Public Law 105-125 (S.1354), passed by Congress in December, amends the Telecommunications Act to clarify that, in those cases where common carrier telecommunications companies (primarily local telephone service providers) are not eligible for universal service support because they are not under the jurisdiction of their state public utilities commission, those carriers can directly petition the FCC to be designated eligible for universal service support. This law does not affect Internet service providers. _________________________________________________________________ CBO ISSUES REPORT ON UNIVERSAL SERVICE The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has issued a report on the financial impacts of universal service. The CBO estimates that the schools, libraries, and rural health care portions of universal service will cost $560 million in fiscal year 1998 and $1.2 billion in fiscal year 1999. According to the CBO estimates, the schools and libraries program will not reach the $2.25 billion cap until after 2005. The full report is available from the CBO website at http://www.cbo.gov. _________________________________________________________________ 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: Carol C. Henderson Andrew Magpantay Aleck Johnson All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. =================================================================