ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


8 8 6  /  C&RL News ■  Decem ber 1998

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

End of session developments
We briefly summarize here the final status of 
several key legislative issues that were resolved 
either as separate bills or as part of the omni­
bus appropriations bill, H.R. 4328, (based on 
the FY99 transportation appropriations confer­
ence report (H. Rept. 105-825). The omnibus 
measure was passed by the 105th Congress and 
signed by the President in late October. This 
information is also available online at http:// 
www.ala.org/washoff/105sum.html.

WIPO Copyright Treaties Implem en­
tation Act passed
Congress gave final approval to the H.R. 2281, 
Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This final 
version includes improvements to several sec­
tions of the bill of that are interest to librarians 
and users of information. On October 28, the 
President signed the measure (now P.L. 105- 
304), which updates the Copyright Act for the 
digital environment and conforms U.S. law to 
the requirements of the new World Intellec­
tual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties ne­
gotiated in Geneva in December 1996.

Database protection bill dropped
Conferees agreed to drop the Collections of 
Information Anti-Piracy Act from H.R. 2281, the 
WIPO treaties bill. This is a major improve­
ment; the database protection measure would 
have had drastic negative effects on education 
and research and would have protected facts 
for the first time. Key legislators have prom­
ised that the issue will be an early agenda item 
in the new Congress next year.

C o p yrigh t term  extension act passed
Both Senate and House passed on October 7 a 
20-year extension of the current life-plus-50- 
year copyright term (S. 505), and the President 
signed the bill (now P.L. 105-298) on October 
27. The measure retains a limited exception 
for libraries, archives, and nonprofit educational 
institutions crafted in intense negotiations last year.

Blocking software requirements dropped
The omnibus package contained no require­
ments to have libraries or schools install and

use filtering and blocking software as a condi­
tion of receiving federal funds or the e-rate. 
However, the Istook amendment was again 
under serious consideration for attachment to 
the omnibus bill. After much work by library 
advocates and others, the amendment was 
dropped.

Selected library and education program 
fu n d in g (in m illions) passed

PROGRAM FY98 FY99 PRES. FINAL 
BUDGET FY99

LSTA $146.3 $146.3 $ 166.2*
Reading•• 0 50.0 260.0
ESEA VI 350.0 0 375.0
Ed. Tech.••• 584.0 721.0 698.1
21C L.Ctrs. 40.0 200.0 200.0
Work Study 830.0 900.0 870.0
Teachers•••• 0 1,100.0 1,194.0
NCLIS 1.0 1.0 1.0

• LSTA total includes level funding for 
state grants; Congress put the increase in the 
National Leadership Grants, which receive a 
total of $25m from LSTA, of which $15.4m is 
for specific earmarked projects

• • Reading E xcellen ce Act (America 
Reads children’s literacy initiative)

• • • Total of various programs
• • • • Class size, reduction teacher recruit­

ment and training.

Governm ent Publications Reform Act 
dropped
S.2288, the Wendell H. Ford Government 
Publications Reform Act of 1998, died with 
congressional adjournment. This bill, which 
had been approved earlier by the Senate 
Committee on Rules and Administration, 
w ould have reform ed  T itle  44 U .S .C., 
strengthened the Federal Depository Library 
Program, and improved public access. ■

Lynne E. Bradley is d e p u ty  execu tive  d ire c to r o f  ALA's 
Washington Office; e-mail: leb@alawash.org

http://www.ala.org/washoff/105sum.html
mailto:leb@alawash.org


C&RL News ■  D e ce m b e r 1998 /  887