_________________________________________________________________ ALAWON Volume 7, Number 108 ISSN 1069-7799 September 17, 1998 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (178 lines) - ACTION NEEDED: COSPONSORS NEEDED FOR S. 2288; MARKUP POSTPONED - ALA TESTIFIES IN SUPPORT OF E-RATE BEFORE JOINT HEARING OF HOUSE COMMERCE & EDUCATION COMMITTEES _________________________________________________________________ ACTION NEEDED: COSPONSORS NEEDED FOR S. 2288; MARKUP POSTPONED Committee consideration of S. 2288, the Wendell H. Ford Government Publications Reform Act of 1998, scheduled for September 16, was postponed until next week providing additional time for the library community to urge their Senators to cosponsor the bill. The Senate Committee on Rules and Administration held a hearing on S. 2288 on September 16, but postponed action on the bill pending further negotiations among stakeholders. Senator John Warner (R-VA) chaired the hearing, the second on the bill, to hear from those with concerns about the bill. Those testifying were J. Michael Farren, Xerox Corporation, representing the Information Technology Industry Council; Leonard Pomata, Litton/PRC, Inc., representing the Professional Services Council; and William Gindlesperger, ABC Advisors, Inc., a company that disseminates bid solicitations to printers. Senators Warner and Ford sharply questioned the witnesses, with Senator Ford making clear that he thought the witnesses concerns about S. 2288 were misplaced. During the hearing, Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) observed that when he was at home in August librarians had told him how important it is to enact S. 2288. Farren said that if the Committee truly seeks to reform Title 44, it should allow agencies, Congress and every branch of government to determine the most efficient and effective means to procure publications and printing. In response, Senator Wendell Ford (D-KY), the Committee's ranking member, said that a decentralized system is not appropriate for government information because it does not guarantee the American taxpayer the government publications they have paid to have produced. Pomata also promoted decentralization of government printing and procurement, but Senator Ford told him that he does not believe that printing should be disconnected from dissemination of government publications. Senator Ford said that when agencies do not print through the Government Printing Office, "fugitive documents" that escape the system are the result. Gindlesperger, on the other hand, was pleased at the Committee's decision to include in S. 2288 the need to limit the federal government's internal publication production capacity while promoting private sector procurement to the maximum extent practicable. However, Gindlesperger said that the federal government should not be expending taxpayer money to provide value-added services that are readily available in the private sector. Among the examples he gave of value-added services were electronic searching, sorting, selecting, and tagging capabilities. Senator Ford said that he does not think the Committee should legislate a monopoly for any one company by preventing GPO from doing something a company wants to do. Representative Bud Shuster (R-PA) attended the hearing, indicating support for Gindlesperger. ACTION NEEDED: The delay in the Committee action gives additional time to urge Senators to cosponsor S. 2288. The bill includes much-needed reforms to improve and enhance public access to government information. Contact your Senators today and urge them to cosponsor S. 2288. Immediate action is especially important if your Senator is a member of the Committee on Rules and Administration. An easy way to contact Senators is through the ALA Washington Office Legislative Action Center at http://congress.nw.dc.us/ala/. See ALAWON v7, n103 for reasons to support S. 2288. For more information about S. 2288, including sample letters, talking points, and additional background information, please consult the Web site of the Inter-Association Working Group on Government Information Policy (IAWG) at: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/IAWG. _________________________________________________________________ ALA TESTIFIES IN SUPPORT OF E-RATE BEFORE JOINT HEARING OF HOUSE COMMERCE & EDUCATION COMMITTEES Tom Sloan,a member of the ALA Committee on Legislation, testified on behalf of ALA before a September 16 joint hearing of two House committees. Sloan, who is the Delaware State Librarian, testified on the "logical partnership" between the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and the e-rate telecommunications discounts before the House Commerce and Education Committees. The major message of Sloan's statement for ALA was that the e-rate is a logical partner with LSTA and other federal education and information technology programs such as Challenge grants and other titles of ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act). The House Commerce and Education Committees convened a joint hearing ostensibly to address the multiplicity of educational technology programs. The only common agenda item for these two committees is the e-rate. Some of the comments and questions to the witnesses, especially from Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), appeared to argue that were too many educational technology programs and that perhaps the e-rate is not necessary or should be administered as a state block grant. Sloan was the final speaker on the panel which included government witnesses: Linda Roberts, Director of the Office of Education Technology in the U.S. Dept. of Education and Carlotta Joyner, Director for Education and Employment Issues in the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO). Testifying about the amount and commitment of corporate philanthropy for ed. tech. was Marilyn Reznick, from the AT&T Foundation and Jane Prancan, Executive Director of the U.S. West Foundation. The cable industry was represented by Joe Waz from the Comcast Corporation. Two witnesses from the K-12 school community testified: Forrest Fisher, from Education Service District 105 in Yakima, WA., and Brent Frey from the West Shore School District in Pennsylvania. Fisher's congressional representative is Rick White (R-WA), a member of the House Commerce Committee. Chair of the House Commerce Committee, Thomas Bliley (R-VA), is Fisher's congressional representative. Both school witnesses had some critical comments to make about the e-rate although generally acknowledged the need for technology and the necessity of such federal programs. Frey held up a note book with his e-rate application and other info. about the adjustments and changes required. He more clearly than any of the other witnesses suggested that there was a better way to deploy the e-rate. Meanwhile, ALA's Sloan came out clearly in favor of the e-rate and maintaining the natural partnership that the LSTA program and e-rate encourage. In the time available, Sloan emphasized the strength of the e-rate because it builds on local needs and technology plans; he responded affirmatively to a question about the need for evaluation and described what Delaware is doing to assess Internet access in their libraries. He also described some specific Internet costs and services in Delaware that have been funded by LSTA. Although many observers expected a highly critical hearing that might call for an end to the e-rate because of the many other educational technology programs in the Department of Education, the overall message from the hearing, even the "critical" witnesses, was that there is tremendous benefit from technology in schools and libraries. The argument in favor of the e-rate and other technology-based programs was also clearly made. No additional action is expected at this time on these aspects of the e-rate. Options for financing the e-rate from the Federal Excise Tax (FET) do not appear to be on any of the appropriate congressional agendas at this time. However, the few remaining weeks in this Congress will be extremely fluid. Library supporters should standby in case immediate action is needed should amendments or other last minute action try to threaten the e-rate and related programs. _________________________________________________________________ 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, go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/ subscribe.html or 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: Anne Heanue All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. _________________________________________________________________