ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 938 / C&RL News ■ N ovem ber 2000 W a s h i n g t o n H o t l i n e Lynne E. Bradley FY 2001 appropriations bills delayed As of mid-October, final work is not completed on several appropriations bills and the 106th Congress may remain in session until October 27. The federal government continues to func­ tion under week-by-week continuing resolu­ tions maintaining previous funding levels on a temporary, prorated basis. This type of congressional end-game wait­ ing period is filled with opportunities and risks. Many legislative proposals get tacked onto the appropriations bills as amendments or riders. Inside the Beltway, the resultant appropria­ tions bills are known as “Christmas trees,” hung with many differing “ornaments” otherwise al­ leged to b e pork, special interest provisions, or other pet projects. Filtering update Proponents o f filtering mandates have had them attached as amendments to the Labor- HHS appropriations bill. ALA and many other groups have continued extensive pressure to kill these filtering amendments. If passed, the mandates would apply to libraries receiving e-rate discounts (public libraries and K—12 schools) and those receiving Library Services Technology Act (LSTA) monies. Various “com­ promises” are circulating behind the scenes, but it is impossible to predict what will hap­ pen at this writing. More to come on this is­ sue at the federal and local levels (see: http:// www. ala. org/washoff/filteringmandate. html). Database bill update An example o f the risk during such late and protracted budget negotiations deals with one o f the “dueling database bills,” H.R. 354. Ear­ lier in the fall it appeared that neither of the database bills would come to a vote during the 106th Congress. ALA and others have pre­ ferred H.R. 1858, the Consumer and Investor Access to Information Act of 1999, sponsored by House Commerce Committee Chairman Tom Bliley (R-Virginia), ranking member John Dingell (D-Michigan), and several others. Lynne E. Bradley is Office o f Government Relations director o f ALA's Washington Office; e-mail: leb@alawash.org However, in early October, Howard Coble (R-North Carolina), chairman o f the House Ju ­ diciary Subcommittee and chief sponsor of H.R. 354 (the Collections of Information Antipiracy Act), indicated that he would work to get H.R. 354 onto one o f the appropriations bills. The realtors across the country had been lobbying heavily for this bill, while the library commu­ nity and others have fought it, preferring H.R. 1858. (For a comparison o f H.R. 354 and H.R. 1 8 5 8 s e e : http://w w w .ala.org/w ashoff/ database.html.) On October 11 Coble acknowledged that his bill would not make it through this Con­ gress, and vowed that he would revisit the legislation in the next Congress. The battle over H.R. 354 is won for now, but the war on data­ base legislation is not yet over. UCITA coming to your state The Uniform Computer Information Transac­ tions Act (UCITA) is a proposed state contract law developed to regulate transactions in in­ tangible goods, such as computer software, online databases, and other information prod­ ucts in digital form. Libraries, consumer pro­ tection groups, and a number o f businesses have been among those opposing the enact­ ment of UCITA as it was introduced in several states starting in the fall o f 1999. Publishers and large software producers are the primary supporters of UCITA. ALA has expanded its UCITA efforts. An Email Tutorial from ALA’s Office for Informa­ tion Technology Policy will be offered Novem­ ber 6-2 0 , 2000. The Washington Office has updated and redesigned its Web pages devoted to UCITA at: http://www.ala.org/washoff/ucita/ index.html. ALA, along with the Association o f Research Libraries, American Association of Law Libraries, Medical Library Association, and Special Libraries Association, is sponsoring a teleconference on UCITA on December 13, 2 0 0 0 , from 1 - 4 p.m . (EST). See http:// www.arl.org/ucita.html for details on register­ ing for the conference. For additional infor­ mation contact Carol Ashworth, UCITA Grassroots coordinator, at (800) 941-8478 or (202) 628-8410; e-mail: cashworth@alawash.org. ■ mailto:leb@alawash.org http://www.ala.org/washoff/ http://www.ala.org/washoff/ucita/ http://www.arl.org/ucita.html mailto:cashworth@alawash.org C&RL N ew s ■ N o v e m b e r 2 0 00 / 939