================================================================= ALAWON Volume 7, Number 24 ISSN 1069-7799 March 10, 1998 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (108 lines) IMMEDIATE ACTION ALERT: SEN. BURNS PROPOSES LOCAL APPROPRIATE INTERNET USE POLICIES AS SUBSTITUTE FOR REQUIRED FILTERING AND BLOCKING; SUPPORT NEEDED FROM MEMBERS OF SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE AT MARCH 12 MARKUP _________________________________________________________________ IMMEDIATE ACTION ALERT: SEN. BURNS PROPOSES LOCAL APPROPRIATE INTERNET USE POLICIES AS SUBSTITUTE FOR REQUIRED FILTERING AND BLOCKING; SUPPORT NEEDED FROM MEMBERS OF SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE AT MARCH 12 MARKUP Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) has indicated that on Thursday, March 12 he will introduce legislative language which would require libraries and schools to certify that they have local appropriate Internet use policies (AUPs) in order to receive the e-rate telecommunications discounts. This would be a far more acceptable alternative to Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) bill, S. 1619, the Internet School Filtering Act, which would require installation of filters and/or blocking software in order for any library or school to be eligible for the e-rate discounts (see ALAWON, v7, n16, February 11, 1998.) IMMEDIATE ACTION ALERT: Library supporters, especially supporters from states represented on the Commerce Committee, are asked to IMMEDIATELY contact their Senators and ask them to support Sen. Burns' bill at the Senate Commerce Committee markup meeting this Thursday, March 12 at 9:30 am. Tell Senators to let local communities determine appropriate use policies, and that a federal mandate requiring filtering/blocking is not appropriate. The U.S. Capitol Switchboard phone number is 202-224-3121. For more information please contact Lynne Bradley at the ALA Washington Office at 1-800-941-8478. SENATE COMMERCE, SCIENCE & TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE ST PTY SENATOR PHONE FAX (Use 202 area code) AK R Ted Stevens 224-3004 224-2354 AZ R John McCain, chair 224-2235 228-2862 HI D Daniel K. Inouye 224-3934 224-6747 KS R Sam Brownback 224-6521 228-1265 KY D Wendell H. Ford 224-4343 224-0046 LA D John B. Breaux 224-4623 228-2577 ME R Olympia J. Snowe 224-5344 224-1946 MA D John F. Kerry 224-2742 224-8525 MI R Spencer Abraham 224-4822 224-8834 MS R Trent Lott 224-6253 224-2262 MO R John Ashcroft 224-6154 228-0998 MT R Conrad Burns 224-2644 224-8594 NV D Richard H. Bryan 224-6244 224-1867 ND D Byron L. Dorgan 224-2551 224-1193 OR D Ron Wyden 224-5244 228-2717 SC D Ernest Hollings, rnk. mem. 224-6121 224-4293 TN R Bill Frist 224-3344 228-1264 TX R Kay Bailey Hutchison 224-5922 224-0776 WA R Slade Gorton 224-3441 224-9393 WV D John D. Rockefeller, IV 224-6472 224-7665 BACKGROUND: Latest reports suggest that Burns' legislative language would substantially parallel language in S. 1619, the Internet School Filtering Act, which says that "determination of what matter is appropriate for minors shall be made by the school, school board, library or other authority responsible for making the required certification" and that no agency of the United States government may "establish criteria" or review the decisions made by a local governing board. This is consistent with what library and education supporters have advocated: Local communities should and can determine how best to deal with such issues in their libraries and schools. ALA has been collecting many appropriate use policies and will be sharing these with key Senate offices. Grassroots supporters may also want to forward their AUPs to their Senators. This is a fluid and rapidly changing situation. For further information contact Lynne Bradley at the ALA Washington Office at 1-800-941-8478 or 202-628-8410 x210 or email: leb@alawash.org. _________________________________________________________________ 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 Peter Kaplan All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. =================================================================