****Begin File******************Begin File*******************Begin File**** *************************************************************************** ALAWON ALA Washington Office Newsline An electronic publication of the American Library Association Washington Office Volume 1, Number 13 October 21, 1992 In this issue: (182 lines) EDUCATION BILLS KILLED ABORTION INFORMATION VETO UPHELD FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT VETOED CABLE TV REREGULATED DESPITE VETO NCLIS TO MEET IN NOVEMBER NEW FREND AT THE OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL REGISTER *************************************************************************** EDUCATION BILLS KILLED The Senate failed to act on HR 4014, thus killing the bill to reauthorize the Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement. The House had earlier passed a compromise version of HR 4014, the Education, Research, Development, and Dissemination Excellence Act, on September 22. Because appropriations were provided, existing programs will continue for another year, and the new Congress will again address the issue. Several provisions of interest to librarians in HR 4014 died at adjournment. Among other actions, the bill would have prohibited the copyright of the ERIC database, authorized an ambitious SMARTLINE project linked to libraries and the Internet, stimulated electronic networking for K-12 purposes, and created a National Library of Education. The legislation did not affect the library programs administered by the Department of Education, which, although located in OERI, are authorized in separate legislation. By failing to break a Republican filibuster, the Senate killed a House- Senate conference version of a school reform bill (S. 2). The bill would have provided assistance for school reform efforts, development of voluntary curriculum standards and tests, and an experimental loosening of federal education regulations. The House passed the measure, but would have had difficulty overriding an expected veto. The measure included very little of President Bush's America 2000 initiative, and did not include his proposal to subsidize school children attending parochial and private schools. *************************************************************************** ABORTION INFORMATION VETO UPHELD Congress failed to override a veto of S. 323, a bill to reauthorize the primary federal family-planning program, including a provision to overturn the Supreme Court decision in _Rust v. Sullivan_. Last year, the Supreme Court upheld federal regulations which bar employees of federally funded family planning clinics from discussing abortion with their patients. The regulations, which face further court challenges, took effect October 1, 1992. The President vetoed S. 323 on September 25. The Senate voted to override by a vote of 73-26 on October 1, but the House, in a 266-148 vote on October 2, fell 10 short of the two-thirds majority needed to override. ALA had joined with the Freedom to Read Foundation and others in filing an amicus brief before the Supreme Court supporting health-care providers who challenged the regulations as unconstitutional. The vetoed bill would have allowed such clinics to provide pregnant women with information and nondirective counseling services concerning all legal and medical options regarding their pregnancies, including abortion. *************************************************************************** FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT VETOED The President's veto of the Family and Medical Leave Act (S. 5) was sustained in the House on September 30, killing the measure. ALA was on record in support of this measure to grant employees family and temporary medical leave under certain circumstances. The Senate had successfully voted to override by 68-31 on September 24, but the House fell short in a 258-169 vote. *************************************************************************** CABLE TV REREGULATED DESPITE VETO Despite an intense lobbying effort against the bill by the White House and cable TV groups, legislation to reregulate the cable television industry was enacted. Nearing adjournment, the Senate voted 74-25 and the House voted 308-114 on October 5 to override the President's veto of S. 12. This action ended the President's previously unbroken string of 35 vetoes sustained, and caused S. 12 to become PL 102-385 on October 5. Legislators saw the bill as popular with constituents angry with rapid price increases and unresponsive service from monopoly cable operators. The Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 reverses some provisions of the deregulatory Cable Act of 1984. The Federal Communications Commission is authorized to regulate rates for basic cable service, regulate prices for cable equipment, and set minimum customer service standards. Franchising authorities may require cable operators to assure adequate public, educational, and governmental access channel capacity, facilities, or financial support. Such "PEG" access programming required by the franchise must be provided to subscribers as part of the basic tier of service. Other provisions are designed to spur competition. Providers of direct broadcast satellite service providing video programming must reserve from 4 to 7 percent of channel capacity exclusively for noncommercial programming of an educational or informational nature. DBS providers must make this channel capacity available to national educational program suppliers (such as public TV stations or educational institutions) at reasonable prices, terms and conditions as determined by the FCC. President Bush's veto message of October 3 said S. 12 tried to address legitimate consumer concerns but did so by requiring cable companies to bear costly regulatory burdens. He also noted that a provision that would have expanded the ability of telephone companies to compete with cable in rural areas was dropped at the last minute. *************************************************************************** NCLIS TO MEET IN NOVEMBER The National Commission on Libraries and Information Science will meet on Monday, November 1, from 1:00 pm to 5:50 pm and Tuesday, November 10, from 9:15 am to 2:00 pm. The meetings will be held in the Martin Luther King Public Library, 901 G. Street NW, Washington, DC, and are open to the public. The agenda is as follows: Executive Director's Report International Activities Reports Presentation, Dr. Hardy Franklin, Director of the M.L. King Public Library and ALA President-elect AMERICA 2000 Library Partnership Community Learning and Information Network Report, Status of Publications: WHCLIS Final Report NREN Library and Information Services for Native Americans NCLIS Committee Reports NCLIS FY 93 Meeting Schedule Public Comment Unfinished Business For further information, contact Barbara Whiteleather, NCLIS, Suite 310, 1111 18th Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Phone: 202-254-3100. *************************************************************************** NEW FREND AT THE OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL REGISTER The Office of the Federal Register is now offering information via electronic bulletin board. Federal Register Electronic News Delivery, or FREND, is designed to provide fast access to Public Law numbers and tables of contents of recent issues of the Federal Register, but not the text of the laws or documents. The office also plans to offer a list of Daily Federal Register documents on public inspection. The telephone numbers for accessing FREND are 202-275-0920 or 202-275-1538. Modem settings are 8-N- 1, 2400 baud. For further information, or if you have comments or suggestions, contact Ernie Sowada or John Ashlin at 202-523-3447, or Bob Jordan or Carol Mahoney at 202-275-0854. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** ALAWON is an irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office, 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E., Washington, DC 20002-5675. Editor and List Owner: Fred King. Phone: 202-547-4440; Fax: 202-547-7363; Bitnet: NU_ALAWASH@CUA; Internet: NU_ALAWASH@CUA.EDU All or part of ALAWON may be redistributed, with appropriate credits. ALAWON is available free of charge and is available only in electronic form. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe ala-wo [your name]" to the Bitnet address listserv@uicvm. Back issues of ALAWON will be available soon. 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