ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


C&RL News ■  February 1998 / 115

W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n e Lynn E. Bradley

On th e  congressional agenda
As the Senate and House prepare to con

vene the second session of the 105th Con

gress, there are several key issues of impor

tance pending for academic librarians. Las

month we wrote about the important de

bates proceeding on intellectual property,

which should remain a number one legisla

tive priority for library supporters. (See C&R

News, January 1998, on cyber-copyright bills,

page 30.) This session of the 105th Con

gress should also see a return to efforts to

reauthorize the Higher Education Act, but

few new specifics are known at this time

about which titles or issues they will ad

dress first within HEA. The president’s pro

posed FY99 budget has not yet been re

leased, so there will be much more to report

in next month’s column. Expect battles over

most appropriations issues, especially given

the overlay of an election year.

The universal service fund
On the other side of town, the FCC quietly

completed work on another issue impor­

tant to colleges and universities. On Decem­

ber 30, the FCC exempted nonprofit schools,

colleges, and libraries from the requirement

to contribute to the universal service fund.

There had been confusion about whether

colleges and universities, in particular, would

be required to contribute to the universal

service fund to the extent that they provide

interstate te le c o m m u n ic a tio n s  on a

non-common carrier basis. While the FCC

has “permissive authority” over “other pro­

viders of interstate telecommunications,” the

commission concluded that the public in­

terest would not be served if the FCC were

to exercise its authority in this instance.

The FCC cited two reasons for this con­

clusion. First, many of these entities will be

eligible to receive universal service support,

and “it would be counterproductive to the

goals of universal service” to require recipi­

ents to contribute because it would, in ef­

Lynne E. Bradley is deputy executive dire cto r o f  ALA's
Washington Office; e-mail: leb@alawash.org

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fect, reduce the support they receive.

Second, the FCC said “it would be incon­

sistent with the educational goals of the uni­

versal service support mechanisms to require 

colleges and universities to contribute to uni­

versal service.” The commission will treat 

nonprofit schools, colleges, universities, li­

braries, and health care providers as telecom­

munications end users, thus they will not be 

required to contribute to the universal ser­

vice fund, even if they derive revenues from 

the provision of interstate telecommunica­

tions to others. This FCC decision was part 

of an end-of-year order providing a number 

of clarifications and mid-course corrections 

on issues raised by petitioners and others 

who commented on the commission’s previ­

ous three orders on universal service issues. 

The FCC’s Fourth Order on Reconsideration 

(FCC 97-420) was issued December 30, 1997. 

(FCC orders are available electronically from 

the FCC at www.fcc.gov/ccb/universal_ 

service/.) The ALA had earlier written sepa­

rately and together with the National Asso­

ciation of State Universities and Land-Grant 

Colleges (NASULGC) and several other na­

tional higher-education organizations in let­

ters to the FCC indicating that colleges and 

universities, schools and libraries, should not 

be subject to a requirement to contribute to 

universal service. ALA will continue to moni­

tor these various issues. More to come as 

Congress returns from winter recess with 

many agenda items and a fall election cam­

paign on the horizon.

ACRL encourages y Digital Copyright ActtSupport heou to support Sen. 

Jo h n  Ashcroft’s (R-Missouri) D ig ita l 
C opyright Clarification an d Technol­
ogy Act (S. 1146) and the D igital Era 
C opyright Enhancement Act, jointly in­
troduced by Reps. Rick Boucher (D-Vir- 

ginia) and Tom Campbell (R-California) 

(H.R. 3048). Please contact your House and 

Senate delegations requesting them to co­

sponsor the bills. (See page 76 for details.)

http://www.fcc.gov/ccb/universal_
mailto:leb@alawash.org