_________________________________________________________________ ALAWON Volume 7, Number 129 ISSN 1069-7799 October 16, 1998 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (75 lines) S. 2288 UPDATE: CONGRESS FAILS TO ENACT TITLE 44 REFORMS; ISSUE WILL RETURN IN THE 106TH CONGRESS _________________________________________________________________ S. 2288 UPDATE: CONGRESS FAILS TO ENACT TITLE 44 REFORMS; ISSUE WILL RETURN IN THE 106TH CONGRESS Note: The following was adapted from an update by Daniel O'Mahony, a member of the ALA Committee on Legislation and chair of Inter-Association Working Group on Government Information Policy. For more information about IAWG, go to http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/GODORT/iawgpage.html. The 105th Congress will conclude without passing much-needed reforms to Title 44, the law governing public printing, procurement, and dissemination. Members of Congress, spurred on primarily by some information technology and private publishing groups, defeated efforts to enact S. 2288, the Government Publications Reform Act of 1998. However, this issue will return in the next Congress. Not only did the 105th Congress fail to meet its own most basic goals for Title 44 reform -- resolve the constitutional problem of the Joint Committee on Printing and ensure permanent public access to government publications regardless of format -- but it undercut the existing oversight structure by de-funding the JCP after December 31, 1998. According to the latest legislative branch appropriations information available, the JCP will exist after December 31 only as a "virtual" committee, with no assigned staff, operating out of the offices of the House Committee on House Oversight and Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. As the final days and hours of the session were winding down this week, the "last hope" strategy for enacting S. 2288 was to attach all or part of the bill as an amendment to the omnibus spending bill being developed by congressional leaders and the White House. The agreement on the omnibus spending package announced on Thursday, October 15 does not include any provisions to reform Title 44 or improve public access to government information. Congress is expected to pass the spending bill no later than Monday, October 19. Thanks to all library advocates who responded to alerts and worked to support S. 2288. Your help will be needed again when this issue returns in the 106th Congress. _________________________________________________________________ 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. _________________________________________________________________