ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 8, Number 63 June 18, 1999 In this issue: House Passes Filtering Requirement Late yesterday evening, June 17, the House passed H.R. 1501, the Child Safety and Protection Act, after acting on 44 amendments. The amendments, which attempted to address youth violence through cultural issues, ranged from a sense of the Congress "condemning the entertainment industry for its use of pointless acts of brutality" to a specification that states hold the power to display the Ten Commandments on state owned property. H.R. 1501 could now be referred to the Senate. One amendment with direct impact on libraries would eliminate E- rate telecommunications discounts for libraries and schools that do not use blocking or filtering technology for computers with Internet access. After hearing strong words of opposition from Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Bobby Rush (D-IL), Bobby Scott (D- VA), Carrie Meek (D-FL), and Maxine Waters (D-CA), the House included the amendment in H.R. 1501 by a voice vote. Constituents of these members should consider specifically thanking them for standing up for local control and defending the E-rate. The amendment, offered by Reps. Bob Franks (R-NJ) and Charles Pickering, Jr. (R-MS), would require that all library and school computers with Internet access filter or block child pornography and obscenity. It also requires that material "harmful to minors" be filtered or blocked; a revision offered by Rep. Franks on the House floor and approved without objection added the words "during use by minors." In other words, all computers with Internet access would be required to filter or block child pornography, obscenity, and -- when used by minors -- material that is harmful to minors. The adjustment appears to have been made in an attempt to address concerns that the amendment was phrased in an unconstitutional manner. The Franks/Pickering amendment also would create an expensive unfunded mandate requiring library and school systems to pay thousands of dollars to purchase and install blocking and filtering software. This is an additional cost of connectivity that would not be defrayed by E-rate discounts. It also establishes draconian penalties for noncompliance requiring libraries and schools unable to comply within 30 days of the issuance of rules by the Federal Communications Commission to return all E-rate discount amounts already received under the E- rate program begun 18 months ago. In a June 18 press release, ALA President Ann Symons said: "This amendment would impose a one-size-fits-all federal mandate that undermines local decisions made by libraries, schools and their governing boards on how to provide a safe and rewarding experience for children in using the Internet." "This retroactive burden would fall most harshly on libraries in low-income and rural areas that received the largest discounts," said Carol Henderson, executive director of the ALA Washington Office. Rep. Blumenauer told his colleagues: "Assuring that the children's Internet activity is safe is most appropriately made at the local level, not one by a new federal mandate." "Communities across this country are already working to ensure that children's Internet access is properly guided," Rep. Meeks said. "They are utilizing every available option and choosing those that conform to local needs and standards." Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has sponsored S. 97, a bill with similar filtering requirements, which is now scheduled for mark-up on June 23 in the Senate Commerce Committee. The language the committee will use as a basis for its actions has not yet been made available, but is likely to contain many of the same elements as the Franks/Pickering amendment. Updates will follow as ALA learns more details about the progress of this legislation and further analyzes the content of H.R. 1501. ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff. Editor: Lynne E. Bradley; Managing Editor: Deirdre Herman; Contributors: Phyllis Albritton, Mary Costabile, Carol Henderson, Peter Kaplan, Claudette Tennant and Rick Weingarten.