ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 8, Number 105 October 13, 1999 In this issue: Open Letter to Potential E-rate Applicants Due to persistent legislative attempts to require filtering for E- rate applicants, the ALA Washington Office is reaching out to those eligible for E-rate discounts with the following message. Please re-post this message wherever appropriate. MEMORANDUM TO: Potential E-rate Applicants FROM: Lynne Bradley Director, American Library Association, Office of Government Relations Claudette Tennant Telecommunications Lobbyist, American Library Association DATE: October 13, 1999 RE: Filtering legislation Libraries must continue to apply for E-rate discounts, even as threats of filtering are being considered in Congress. Some in the community, understandably frustrated by the continued attacks on the program, have suggested not applying for year three funding. It is, however, far too premature for such a drastic step. In fact, if libraries opt out of the program at this stage, we would give an easy victory to those critics looking to eliminate or reduce the program when it is obvious they can not win legislatively or constitutionally. It is impossible to predict legislative actions with certainty, but keep the following in mind: A) It is not clear that any E-rate filtering bills will be passed this year. B) It is uncertain that the President would sign such a bill, even if passed. The White House has consistently opposed linking filtering requirements to E-rate discounts. C) Even if a bill were signed into law, it is far from clear that such a requirement would survive the Constitutional challenge that ALA would be almost certain to mount. Libraries and schools are entitled to these discounts, which were called for in the 1996 Telecommunications Act, and as many libraries as possible should be applying for them. This type of participation and support from the community can only strengthen the program politically and help shield it against the continuing, but so far failing, attempts to kill it. Below is a summary of bill status: An amendment sponsored by Rep. Ernest Istook, Jr. (R-OK) was included by voice vote in the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill by the House Appropriations subcommittee. This amendment is identical to Istook's H.R. 2560, the Child Protection Act of 1999, which would require public libraries and schools--as a condition of receiving funds from ANY federal agency for the acquisition or operation of computers--to install filters to protect children from obscenity and child pornography. In this very contentious budget year the Labor-HHS-Education bill has many hurdles left to jump before it can make it into law this session. If this provision does become law, a question could still be raised as to whether or not E-rate discounts are funds provided by a federal agency. The House version of H.R. 1501, the Juvenile Justice bill, contains an amendment to eliminate E-rate discounts for libraries and schools that do not implement filtering or blocking technology on computers with Internet access. The Senate version of the bill does not contain a comparable provision. Before the bill progresses to the President, all differences must be worked out between the two Houses. Conferees from the House and Senate began to meet in earnest the week of September 27; however, differences, particularly those related to gun control issues, are vast. This bill may die in the conference committee, but if it is approved with the filtering provision intact, the President is unlikely to see this issue as a deciding factor in whether or not he vetoes the bill. On August 5, S. 97, Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) bill, which would require the installation and use by libraries and schools of a filtering or blocking technology for computers with Internet access to be eligible to receive E-rate discounts, was reported out of the Senate Commerce Committee (S. Rept. 106-141). It is now procedurally ready for any next step -- a debate and/or vote by the full Senate, alone or as an amendment to another bill. McCain feels strongly about the need for filtering which could possibly be used as a presidential campaign issue. On August 8, Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) introduced S. 1545, a bill to require libraries and schools receiving E-rate discounts to install blocking or filtering systems OR implement Internet use policies. The bill would also require a study of available Internet blocking or filtering software. Sen. Santorum's bill is seen by many as a reasonable alternative to the more restrictive S. 97 by Sen. McCain, because of S. 1545's acknowledgment of the local decision making processes. It is very hard to make statements about what ALA will do in response to any legislation that might pass because what is proposed now may not be exactly what goes into law. If unconstitutional requirements were placed upon libraries, ALA knows that legal action is a strong tool for seeking remedy. If there are serious constitutional questions raised by a piece of legislation, the courts are more likely to place it on hold temporarily, a stay or injunction, until a case can be fully heard. This would be the first action ALA would be likely to seek in any legal proceedings. If you have any questions regarding filtering legislation, please call Claudette Tennant at 1-800-941-8478. ****** 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: Sally Benson, Mary Costabile, Peter Kaplan, Miriam Nisbet, Carrie Russell, Emily Sheketoff, Saundra Shirley, Claudette Tennant and Rick Weingarten.