D:\SUNEEL\C.R.L.N\VOL 55\DECEMBER\000\1.pdf December 1 9 9 4 /7 4 1 W ashington Hotline Lynne E. B radley Telecom m unications legislation fails A m ajo r re a rra n g e m e n t o f th e telecom m unications reg ­ ulatory lan d scap e cam e very clo se to p a ss in g C ongress this year. In J u n e the H ouse passed tw o m ajor bills- -H P 3626, the Antitrust a n d C om ­ m unications Reform Act, and H.R. 3636, th e N ational Com­ m u n ic a tio n s a n d C o m p eti­ tion an d Inform ation Infra­ structure Act. T h e S e n a te C o m m e rc e C om m ittee a p p ro v e d in A ugust a su b stitu te version o f S. 1822, the C om m unications Act o f 1994. By late S ep tem b er th e bill w as d ecla red d ead by its sp o n so r, Sen. Ernest H ollings (D- SC). B oth H ollings an d V ice-President Al G ore b lam ed Bell p h o n e com pany o p p o sitio n for S. 1822’s failure. For libraries, schools, a n d cer­ tain nonprofits, the bills w o u ld h av e req u ired th e FCC to initiate rulem akings for preferential rates. S. 1822 in co rp o rated th e additional co n ­ cep t o f reserving capacity for certain eligible entities at increm ental co st-b ased rates, using language from S. 2195, the N ational Public T ele­ com m u n icatio n s Infrastructure Act. A nother en d -o f-sessio n casualty w as H.R. 820, th e N ational C om petitiveness Act, w hich n e v e r em erg ed from H ouse-Senate co n feren ce co m m ittee d u e to d isa g re e m e n ts o v e r trad e provisions a n d regulatory flexibility. C o n sen ­ sus h ad b e e n re a c h e d o n th e bill’s high-perfor­ m ance com puting an d netw orking applications. Originally p a sse d as H.R. 1757 in July 1993 an d as S. 4 (title VI) in M arch 1994, these provision defin ed th e co m p o n en ts— n etw o rk in g research an d d e v e lo p m e n t, ex p erim en tal te s tb e d n e t­ w orks, and n etw o rk access su p p o rt. T h e bills au th o rized n etw o rk applications for e d u catio n (especially K -12), health care, libraries, g o v ­ ern m en t inform ation, a n d m anufacturing. G ran ts funded C ongress m ore th an d o u b le d the fun d in g for th e T elecom m unications an d Inform ation In ­ frastructure Assistance Program adm inistered by th e N ational T elecom m unications an d Inform a- Lynne E. Bradley is deputy executive director o f ALA s W ashington Office; e-mail: leb@alawash.org tion Administration. T he first 92 grants u n d e r th e program w ere an n o u n ced in O ctober. FY94 fu n d in g w as $26 mil­ lion; o f th e $100 million re ­ q u e ste d b y th e adm inistra­ tio n for FY 95, $64 million w a s a p p r o p r i a t e d . T h e m a t c h in g g r a n t s a r e d e ­ s ig n e d to h e lp n o n p r o f it entities co n n ect to electronic netw o rk s for th e delivery o f social and governm ental ser­ vices an d inform ation. Adm inistration activity Librarians h av e b e e n particularly su p p o rtiv e o f tw o Clinton adm inistration goals for th e Na­ tional Inform ation Infrastructure (Nil): 1) that all schools, libraries, hospitals, and clinics be co n n ected to it b y th e y e a r 2000, a n d 2) tele­ co m m u n icatio n regulatory reform sh o u ld in­ clude preferential rates for libraries an d schools as w ell as th e co n c e p t o f th e public right-of- w ay in all telecom m unications. T hese are also elem en ts that libraries an d e d u catio n su p p o rt­ ers will w an t to se e included in various legisla­ tive an d regulatory efforts anticipated for 1995. T he adm inistration’s Inform ation Infrastruc­ ture T ask Force (IITF) a n d its com m ittees an d w o rk in g g ro u p s have b e e n active this year. T he IITF Inform ation Policy C om m ittee m o v ed for­ w ard o n im p lem en tin g a G o v ern m en t Infor­ m ation Locator Service. Vice-President G ore u n ­ v e i l e d a m u l ti m e d i a e l e c t r o n i c c i t i z e n s ’ h a n d b o o k o n th e W hite H o u se a n d federal agencies in O ctober. Also, th e U.S. Postal Ser­ vice a n n o u n c e d a “citizen k io sk ” pilot program at p o st offices an d o th e r public sites for e lec­ tronic transactions su ch as p u rch ase o f stam ps, license applications, an d governm ent forms, and for access to go v ern m en t inform ation. Postal rates ALA p ro v id ed oral arg u m en t o n O c to b e r 21 in the last hearings before the Postal Rate Com ­ m ission in th e p e n d in g g eneral rate case. T he Postal Service has p ro p o s e d a 73.7% increase in th e fo u rth -class library po stal rate, m u ch h ig h e r th a n th e 10.3% a v e ra g e in c re a se re ­ q u e ste d o f o th e r postal rates. ALA cited am ple p re c e d e n t for rejecting an im plausibly high rate in c re a se e v e n w ith o u t e v id e n c e id en tify in g mailto:leb@alawash.org 742/C&RL News specific errors in the USPS data. A decision is expected before the end o f the year. G overnm ent Printing Office The Government Printing Office (G PO ) imple­ mented the 1993 Electronic Information Access Enhancement Act with online access to the Con­ gressional Record, Federal Register, and con­ gressional bills. GPO also announced in Octo­ ber the first sites among federal depository libraries for free public access on- and off-site to GPO Access databases as part o f its gateway program. The federal depository library at the University o f Missouri, Columbia, and the Co­ lumbia Online Information Network at the Daniel Boone Regional Library, are working cooperatively to offer free public access to the GPO databases as part o f the expanding gate­ way program. Another depository library gate­ way will soon open to the public at the Uni­ versity o f Illinois at Chicago on the LUIS system. Intellectual property A series o f hearings on fair use have been held and work continues within the administration’s Intellectual Property working group chaired by Bruce Lehman, Assistant Secretary o f Commerce and Commissioner o f Patents and Trademarks. Edward Valauskas, chair o f the ALA Commit­ tee on Legislation’s Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Copyright, was the first witness at the Septem­ ber hearing in Chicago on the administration’s recent report on intellectual property. The ALA testimony included three basic recommenda­ tions: 1) a balanced policy framework is essen­ tial for the NII, 2) expanded limitations must accompany any expanded rights for proprietors, and 3) a new national Commission on New Technological Uses (CONTU) is needed. ALA’s testimony was endorsed by the American As­ sociation o f Law Libraries, the Association o f Academic Health Science Library Directors, the Association o f Research Libraries, the Medical Library Association, the National Humanities Alliance, and the Special Libraries Association. Gloria Werner (UCLA) testified in Septem­ ber at the Los Angeles hearing on the intellec­ tual property report. She spoke on behalf of ARL and the same group o f library and schol­ arly organizations. Sarah E. Cox (University of Connecticut School o f Law), chair o f ACRL’s Copyright Committee, represents ACRL in on­ going conferences sponsored by the Patents and Trademarks Office on fair proceedings of the fair use guidelines for higher education. ■ (Meeting list cont. from page 740) German Social Sciences Working Group: Sunday, February 5, 8:00-9:00 a.m. Internet: Tuesday, February 7, 8:00-9:00 a.m. Martinus Nijhoff Study Grant Jury: Sunday, February 5, 4:30-5:30 p.m. (closed) Nominating: Monday, February 6, 9:30-11:00 a.m. (closed) Preconference— 1997: Monday, February 6, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Publications: Tuesday, February 7, 9:30-11:00 a.m. Research and Planning: Sunday, February 5, 2:00-4:00 p.m. Romance Languages Discussion Group: Monday, February 6, 9:30-11:00 a.m. W o m en 's Studies Section Executive: Saturday, February 4, 2:00-4:00 p.m.; Monday, February 6, 2:00-4:00 p.m. Collection Development and Bibliography: Sunday, February 5, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Communications: Sunday, February 5, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Conference Program Planning— Chicago, 1995: Sunday, February 5, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Discussion Meeting: Monday, February 6, 9:30-11:00 a.m. General Membership: Sunday, February 5, 4:30-5:30 p.m. Publications: Sunday, February 5, 9:30 a.m,- 12:30 p.m. Social Issues/Education: Sunday, February 5, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Technical Services: Sunday, February 5, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. ■ (Candidates cont. from page 733) W o m en 's Studies Section Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Cynthia S. Faries, Ref­ erence and Women’s Studies Librarian, Penn­ sylvania State University; Bonnie Jean Cox, Head, Collection Development Department, University o f Kentucky. Secretary: Emilie Ngo-Nguidjol, Reference/In­ struction Librarian, University o f Wisconsin, Madison; Rita Pellen, Assistant Director for Pub­ lic Services, Head Reference/Collection Devel­ opment, Florida Atlantic University. Member-at-Large: Thura R. Mack, Reference Librarian/Assistant Professor, University o f Ten­ nessee, Knoxville; Bernice I. Redfern, Reference Librarian, San Jose State University. ■