================================================================= ALAWON Volume 7, Number 45 ISSN 1069-7799 May 11, 1998 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (199 lines) FCC RELEASES REPORT ON UNIVERSAL SERVICE TO CONGRESS K-12 EDUCATION ORGANIZATIONS LAUNCH SAVE THE E-RATE CAMPAIGN HIGHLIGHTS OF NATIONAL LIBRARY LEGISLATIVE DAY _________________________________________________________________ FCC RELEASES REPORT ON UNIVERSAL SERVICE TO CONGRESS Funding for the libraries and schools telecommunications discounts and revision of the administrative structures for the e-rate and rural health care discount programs are the main issues addressed in a report that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released to Congress on universal service late on Friday, May 8 (FCC Report No. CC 98-13). This report was mandated in the 1998 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, PL 105-174, signed into law May 1. Of the five FCC commissioners, the three Democrats, Chairman Kennard, and Commissioners Susan Ness and Gloria Tristani voted in favor of the report; the two Republicans, Harold Furthgott-Roth and Michael Powell wrote minority opinions critical of the report. (Full text of report available at: www.fcc.gov/ccb/universal_service/welcome.html) FUNDING ISSUES: The FCC reports that, based upon preliminary information from the Schools and Libraries Corporation (SLC), schools and libraries will request approximately $2.02 billion in funding during 1998. Of this about $656 million is for telecommunications services; $88 million for Internet services; and over $1.2 billion for internal connections or inside wire. The FCC reports that with the various savings in long distance access charges, consumers' bills should not have to increase and that new costs will be further reduced by additional access charge reductions pending this July. (Access charges are the fees that long distance companies pay to local telephone companies to access or use local telephone networks for delivery of long distance calls.) The FCC predicts that $1.67 billion will be available from access charge savings to fund the e-rate. The FCC will conduct another public comment period to determine whether this $1.67 billion is adequate as well as whether and/or how additional funds could be raised. REORGANIZING THE ADMINISTRATIVE MECHANISM: As part of its report, the FCC also indicated that it would fold the Schools and Libraries Corporation (SLC) and the Rural Health Care Corp. (RHCC) under the Universal Service Administration Corporation (USAC) by January 1999. The FCC would also conduct a public comment period on this reorganization proposal. It appears that the FCC hopes to maintain the knowledge and specialized expertise of both the SLC and RHCC boards. The FCC report and the critical debate it inevitably will create will require continued major grassroots efforts to support the e-rate, to assure that it is fully funded, and to maintain a clear voice for the library, school, and health care provider constituencies in the administrative process. As further analysis and comment on the FCC report is forthcoming from Congress and others, ALA will make additional reports. It is expected that the coming weeks will be an extremely critical time to maintain grassroots efforts in support of the discounts. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Grassroots advocates should continue the message to Congress and the FCC. Key message points: - Don't cut funding for these discounts: A $2.25 billion annual cap was put on the part of the universal service fund designated for the library/school program. Maintain this funding and promote the rural health care initiatives. - Keep all eligible and necessary services in place: Keep inside connections and related services that will make these networks reach to the end-users. - Keep the program moving forward and protect this as well as the entire universal service program: Don't let policy disputes on access charges or debates over how to administer the program disrupt its implementation. It must move forward to assure every community is connected by the Year 2000. _________________________________________________________________ K-12 EDUCATION ORGANIZATIONS LAUNCH SAVE THE E-RATE CAMPAIGN A group of K-12 school organizations including the National School Boards Association, the National Education Association, the American Association of School Administrators, the National Association of Independent Schools, and several Catholic education organizations, initiated a major grassroots campaign on May 7 to save the e-rate. To protect the telecommunications discounts for schools and libraries, the campaign includes a call to E-mail, phone and write to Congressional representatives as well as an ad in Roll Call (a newspaper directed to Congress and Hill staffers). Many school and library advocates, including ALA, continue to lobby Congress to make sure that the discounts on telecommunications services for K-12 schools and are maintained and fully funded. (See related report in this ALAWON.) This school organization campaign targets the long distance companies, including AT&T, Sprint, and MCI, who are expected to include a line item charge on all phone bills in July. Additionally, the group has targeted some of the local phone companies such as SBC, BellSouth and GTE who have filed a lawsuit that threatens the e-rate program. Further information about this campaign is available at: http://congress.nw.dc.us/e-rate. _________________________________________________________________ HIGHLIGHTS OF NATIONAL LIBRARY LEGISLATIVE DAY On May 4-5 the 24th annual National Library Legislative Day was held in Washington, D.C. More than 450 librarians, trustees and library supporters from 43 states and the District of Columbia told their library stories on visits to congressional offices on Capitol Hill. Library advocates focused on copyright, discounted telecom rates, appropriations, reading bills, education and government information issues. May 4 was Briefing Day, an all day briefing session by Washington area experts and ALA Washington Office staff to prepare participants for the next day's congressional visits. Special guests included Diane Frankel, director of the Institute for Museum and Library Services, Michael Stephens, vice president of Van Scoyoc and Associates; Thomas Susman, attorney with Ropes & Gray; and Leslie Harris, attorney with Harris and Associates. Stephens, a former staff member of the House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee, outlined the new budget agreement. Susman, who had worked with the ALA Washington Office on the successful passage of the GPO Access legislation, discussed proposals to update Title 44 and the Federal Depository Library Program. Harris, a first amendment attorney, described the current situation concerning intellectual freedom and legislative attempts to require Internet censorship. The morning of May 5 was highlighted by a visit and remarks from Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) who gave librarians encouraging words about the importance of libraries and his support for them. Friends of the Libraries USA executive director Sandy Dolnick presented public service awards to Rep. John Porter (R-IL), Chair of the House Appropriations Labor HHS, and Education Subcommittee, for his strong and continuing support of funding for libraries, and to Rep. Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) for his support of funding for ESEA Title VI, the block grant that provides school library materials as one of the choices for funding. Accepting the awards were Julie DeBolt, legislative director for Rep. Porter, and Deanne Benos, legislative staffer for Rep. Blagojevich. Later, at the Congressional Reception, Rep. Blagojevich accepted the FOLUSA award in person from FOLUSA vice-president and Ingram CEO, Martin Keeley, III. He was also presented with an Elvis READ poster. Following the ceremony and a briefing by Carol Henderson, ALA Washington Office executive director, library advocates visited congressional members and key staff and spoke with them about library issues. To those who attended this year's event, the National Library Legislative Day committee expresses its thanks for coming and a reminder to return your evaluation forms to the ALA Washington Office. The event was sponsored by the District of Columbia Library Association, the American Library Association Washington Office and other participating organizations. The tradition will continue next year with the 25th annual National Library Legislative Day to be held on May 3-4, 1999. _________________________________________________________________ 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 All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. =================================================================