ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 7, Number 146
November 20, 1998

In this issue:

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS AND THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR 
THE HUMANITIES UPDATE

Funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National 
Endowment for the Humanities was included in the Interior 
Appropriations bill which was rolled into PL 105-277, the FY99 
Omnibus Appropriations bill passed at the end of the 105th 
Congress.  

The National Endowment for the Arts received $98.5 million, the 
same as last year.  The legislation included the same restrictions 
as last year: prohibiting individuals from receiving funds except 
for Literature fellowships, the National Heritage fellowship and 
the American Jazz Masters Fellowship; continuing a 15 percent cap 
on the amount of funds a state can receive; allowing NEA to 
solicit and invest private funds and prohibiting subgranting and 
grants for seasonal support to a group unless content is 
specified.

The National Endowment for the Humanities received $110.7 million, 
the same as funding for FY98.  Although the President's budget 
requested an increase and both House and Senate hearings 
on NEH's budget were positive, no increase was given in the final 
legislation.  The NEH chair was given authority to seek and invest 
private funds in report language accompanying the bill.  In terms 
of the regional centers for cultural heritage proposed by NEH 
Chair Bill Ferris, the Committee report states that there are 
"insufficient resources to fund this effort."

Funding levels for FY99 NEH program areas are as follows:

Federal/State Partnership office                   $28,000,000
Preservation and Access	office			   $18,000,000
Public Programs division/Enterprise office         $11,230,000
Education and Research division			   $22,770,000
Matching (Challenge) Grants office			   $13,900,000

Neither of the endowments has been reauthorized, but language has 
been inserted in the appropriations bill to continue the agencies 
for FY99.

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