ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 14, Number 104
October 19, 2005

In This Issue: E-rate and Telecom Update


1) House Accepts the House Energy & Commerce Committee Report on 
Abuse of E-rate Program

On Tuesday, October 18th, the House accepted the House Energy 
&Commerce Committee's Report, "Waste, Fraud, and Abuse, Concerns 
with the E-rate Program" .  The report describes a limited number 
of abuse cases committed by schools and service providers.  The 
limited scope of the report shows that for the overwhelming 
majority of schools and libraries the need for E-rate is 
legitimate and without the E-rate program many schools and 
libraries would not otherwise be able to provide 
telecommunications services.   

For background info about this report visit the ALA website at: 
http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/WOissues/techinttele/erate/erate.ht
m 

2) ALA files E-rate NPRM 

Yesterday, the American Library Association (ALA) submitted 
comments to the FCC as part of the NPRM process that include a 
plan for major simplification of the application and disbursement 
process. The simplification plan addresses the challenges faced by 
E-rate, its applicants, the Administrator, and participating 
service providers by eliminating unnecessary steps in the E-rate 
and bringing clarity to the roles of the applicants, states, 
service providers and administrators. Simplification of the 
program would mean fewer opportunities for bad actors to commit 
fraud and abuse, while a less-bureaucratic process would also mean 
that scarce FCC/USAC resources could be put to better use. A 
simplified application process would increase participation in the 
program, particularly among very small and often rural libraries 
and schools who could not previously afford the staff time the 
program demands.
  
Full text of the ALA's comments can be found 
at: http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/WOissues/techinttele/erate/erat
e.htm.

 3) FCC Issues an Emergency Service Plan For Gulf State Schools 
and Libraries
The FCC issued a formal order last Friday to disburse through an 
Emergency Service Plan $132 million to schools and libraries 
affected by Hurricane Katrina.  The money will be disbursed to 
those schools and libraries that universal service funds.  The FCC 
will accomplish the disbursement through a funding shift that will 
re-open the application window for the 2005 funding year, and 
extend the application window for FY 2006, and give hurricane-
related applications a higher priority. An estimated 600 schools 
and libraries will be eligible under the funding shift.  


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ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, 
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