ALAWON v4n84 (September 25, 1995) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/alawon/alawon-v4n84 ****Begin File******************Begin File*******************Begin File**** *************************************************************************** ISBN 1069-7799 ALAWON ALA Washington Office Newsline An electronic publication of the American Library Association Washington Office Volume 4, Number 84 September 25, 1995 In this issue: (181 lines) KERREY AMENDMENT WOULD RESTORE TIIAP FUNDING ACTION NEEDED: CONTACT SENATORS AND URGE THEM TO VOTE IN FAVOR OF SEN. KERREY'S AMENDMENT NTIS PRIVATIZATION ATTEMPTS UNDERWAY LIBRARY/EDUCATION FUNDING APPROVED BY SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE *************************************************************************** KERREY AMENDMENT WOULD RESTORE TIIAP FUNDING; ACTION NEEDED Senator Bob Kerrey (D-NE) plans to offer a Senate floor amendment to restore $18.9 million in funding for the Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program for FY 1996. The amendment is expected to be proposed during the week of September 25 when the FY96 Commerce, Justice, State, and Judiciary Appropriations Bill (H.R. 2076) comes to the Senate floor. The TIIAP program, administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in the Commerce Department, provides matching grants to community and other partnerships to promote the delivery of social services and information via advanced telecommunications technologies. Many libraries have received funds, have applied, or have been partners in TIIAP projects. As approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, H.R. 2076 would eliminate all funding for the TIIAP program in both FY96 and FY95. The FY95 proposed rescission would once again threaten the TIIAP grants just about to be announced and awarded. Sen. Kerrey's amendment, while not reversing the full cuts, would restore significant funding for FY96. If approved, the TIIAP program would be in a much stronger position heading into House-Senate conference. The House-passed version provided $40 million for FY96 and left intact the $36 million about to be awarded in FY95. ACTION NEEDED: TIIAP applicants and all interested in this valuable stimulus program should contact their Senators and urge them to vote in favor of Sen. Kerrey's amendment to H.R. 2076 to restore $18.9 million in FY96 TIIAP funding. *************************************************************************** NTIS PRIVATIZATION ATTEMPTS UNDERWAY Pending bills in the Senate and House that would abolish the Department of Commerce, contain provisions that would affect the future of the National Technical Information Service. H.R. 1756, to abolish the Department of Commerce, introduced by Representative Dick Chrysler (R-MI) and about 60 colleagues on June 7, was referred to at least 11 different House committees. As introduced, H.R. 1756 would privatize NTIS and require an attempt to sell its assets. The property of the agency is essentially the 2.5 million United States government-sponsored research and development reports that are available through the NTIS clearinghouse. Several hearings on the bill have been held in the past few weeks, including one on September 12 in the House Science Committee, chaired by Representative Robert Walker (R-PA). At the hearing, Jean Mayhew, Chair of the NTIS Advisory Board, recommended reorganizing NTIS as a government corporation. When the Science Committee marked up the bill on September 14, an amendment by Representative Tom Davis (R-VA) was adopted requiring that the proposed Commerce Programs Resolution Agency (which would replace the Department of Commerce if the legislation were passed) is required to submit to Congress a proposal for legislation to establish NTIS as a wholly-owned government corporation. ALA wrote to Chairman Walker on September 13 recommending that NTIS continue to operate as a self-supporting, not-for-profit public sector organization with continued Congressional oversight. ALA recommended the deletion of the provision of H.R. 1756 requiring privatization of the agency, pointing out that privatizing NTIS would jeopardize the availability in perpetuity of the research results of the federal government. H.R. 1756 would eliminate certain Department of Commerce functions and allow others to operate as independent agencies or be transferred to other federal agencies. For example, the bill, as introduced, would transfer the Bureau of the Census to the Department of the Treasury, would transfer the weights and measures functions of the National Institute for Standards and Technology to the National Science Foundation, and sell NIST laboratories to the private sector. The House leadership set a deadline of September 18 for committees with jurisdiction to report on their plans to dismantle the Department of Commerce. At this point, it is impossible to speculate on what H.R. 1756 will look like when the various committees reconcile their different versions. On September 7, the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee ordered reported S. 929, the Department of Commerce Dismantling Act (S. Rept. 104-139). Neither the reported bill nor the report are available from the Senate document room at this writing. Reportedly, S. 929 terminates NTIS and requires the General Services Administration to attempt to sell the property of NTIS to a private entity intending to perform substantially the same functions as were performed by NTIS. The Clinton Administration strongly opposes any action to dismantle the Department of Commerce. *************************************************************************** LIBRARY/EDUCATION FUNDING APPROVED BY SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE On September 15, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved H.R. 2127, the FY96 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill. The Committee Report (S. Rept. 104-145) recommends a total of $131,503,000 for library programs, a significant increase above the House level of $101,227,000. While the Senate Committee would fund LSCA I and III at the same levels as the House, the Senate also included $16,329,000 for LSCA II--library construction. Also funded would be LSCA VI--literacy at $7,384,000 and Higher Education Act Title II-B, library education and training at $4.5 million and II-B library research and demonstrations at $2 million.. However, research and demonstrations would be limited to two specific projects according to the Committee Report: "The committee has included bill language providing $1,000,000 to the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation for a project to document Holocaust survivor testimony. This nonprofit foundation plans to compile a multimedia archive that will encompass over 40,000 interviews and statements by Holocaust survivors. The Committee has also included bill language providing $1,000,000 for the final phase of the Portals demonstration project. The final phase of the project will provide for the upgrade of network capacity, allowing additional regional partners to join the consortia, and will permit the system to be expanded to maintain and improve efficiency and effectiveness of information delivery." Currently the Portals demonstration project is being undertaken at Portland State University. The National Commission on Libraries and Information Science would receive $829,000, compared with the House passed $450,000, but less than the current $901,000. Report language stated the reason for the decrease as "in keeping with the rest of the bill, the Committee has reduced funding . . . by 8 percent." The Committee approved the same funding level ($25 million) as the House for Education Technology, Part A of title III of ESEA. Funding was not provided by the House or Senate for the school library media resources program authorized last year. The Committee funded the ready to learn television program at $6,440,000, while the House did not fund this program. The Committee recommended a total of $550,000,000 for the Eisenhower professional development State grants ($275,000,000) and innovative education program strategies State grants ($275,000,000). With regard to innovative education program strategies (formerly Chapter 2 block grants), the report states that "State and local funds may be used for acquisition of instructional materials such as library books, curricular materials, and computer software and hardware; improving educational services to disadvantaged children and drop-out prevention; combating illiteracy among children and adults; programs for gifted and talented children; reform activities consistent with Goals 2000; and teacher training and other related activities in support of any of these purposes also is authorized." *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** ALAWON (ISBN 1069-7799) is an irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20004. Internet: alawash@alawash.org; Phone: 202-628-8410; Fax: 202-628=8419. Contributing to this issue: Mary R. Costabile, Anne A. Heanue, Carol C. Henderson and Claudette W. Tennant; Editor: Lynne E. Bradley (leb@alawash.org). ALAWON is available free of charge and is available only in electronic form. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe ala-wo [your name]" to listserv@uicvm (Bitnet) or listserv@uicvm.uic.edu (Internet). Back issues and other documents are available from the list server. To find out what's available, send the message "send ala-wo filelist" to the listserv. The ALA-WO filelist contains the list of files with the exact filename and filetype. To get a particular file, issue the command "send filename filetype" to the listserv. Do not include the quotes in your commands. All materials in the newsletter subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. For other reprinting or redistribution, address requests to the ALA Washington Office (alawash@alawash.org). *************************************************************************** ***End of file******************End of file******************End of file***