ALAWON v5n64 (September 24, 1996) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/alawon/alawon-v5n64 ------------------- ALWN564.TXT follows -------------------- ================================================================= ALAWON Volume 5, Number 64 ISSN 1069-7799 September 24, 1996 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (160 lines) LIBRARY OF CONGRESS' COPYRIGHT OFFICE PRESERVED APPROPRIATIONS UPDATE CONGRESS PASSES ELECTRONIC FOIA BILL LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS BILL SIGNED FORUM FOCUSES ON FAIR PAY _________________________________________________________________ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS' COPYRIGHT OFFICE PRESERVED At the September 18 hearing Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said it was "probably not the time" to go forward with the part of the Omnibus Patent Act (S. 1961) which would have eliminated the Library of Congress' Copyright Office and transferred its functions to a new intellectual property corporation. Senate Judiciary Committee members heard an outpouring of objections from members of library associations, publishers' associations, writers' associations, and academics. As reported in ALAWON (Vol. 5, No. 57, September 13, 1996), ALA alerted congressional staff that such a move would have seriously jeopardized the continued expansion of the Library's collection and would have deprived the legislative branch of the Copyright Office's contribution to balanced copyright law. The major objection at the hearing was the bill's stipulation that copyright, along with trademark and patent registration, be self-supporting through a newly created office of intellectual property policy. Library officials said this would require increasing the copyright registration fee of about $20 to five times that amount. The Library presently handles copyright registration out of its federal allocation. _________________________________________________________________ APPROPRIATIONS UPDATE Time is closing in on the 104th Congress with one week remaining to enact the remaining appropriations bills before the beginning of the new fiscal year. Election-year pressures have combined with time to create a Congress anxious to avoid confrontation and get out of town. At the annual Committee for Education Funding Dinner September 16, Sen. Mark Hatfield (R-OR), one of the honorees and Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, took the unusual step of announcing that meetings were being held by House and Senate appropriators and White House representatives to forge an agreement on more education funding. The meetings were held before the Senate Appropriations Committee report was released and before the Senate bill had been discussed on the Senate floor. By week's end both Democrats and Republicans were signing letters of support for education. Most proposed increases in funding would be for large education programs like Goals 2000, Title I and Pell Grants, but Title II Eisenhower Professional Development and Title VI (formerly Chapter 2), which some school districts use for school library resources, were also proposed increases. The Labor, Health, Human Services, and Education bill (H.R. 3755) is expected to come to the Senate floor unless negotiators decide to include it in an omnibus continuing resolution of all unfinished appropriations bills. _________________________________________________________________ CONGRESS PASSES ELECTRONIC FOIA BILL On September 17, the House and Senate unanimously passed identical bills, H.R. 3802 and S. 1090, the Electronic Freedom of Information Amendments of 1996. The President is expected to sign the bill. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), one of the principal sponsors, said the amendments would "bring this statute into the electronic age." During House consideration of H.R. 3802, Rep. Randy Tate (R-WA) mentioned ALA's support of the bill. On September 16, ALA Washington Office Executive Director Carol C. Henderson sent a letter to Rep. William Clinger (R-PA) urging passage of H.R. 3802, stating that, "as the government increasingly relies on the use of computers to conduct business, it is critical for the free flow of information that the law recognize explicitly that electronic records are covered under the FOIA." This legislation clarifies that federal government electronic records are subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act and requires agencies to provide records in a requested format whenever possible. It encourages agencies to increase on-line access to government records. To addresses the biggest complaint of FOIA requestors--delays in response--the bill doubles the present ten-day agency response time. The bill also requires better record management techniques--such as multi-track processing, and expedited service to those who demonstrate a compelling need for a speedy response. _________________________________________________________________ LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS BILL SIGNED President Clinton signed H.R. 3754, FY97 Legislative Branch Appropriations (P.L. 104-197) on September 16. The statute includes appropriations for the Government Printing Office (GPO) and Library of Congress. GPO's Superintendent of Documents appropriation will be $29,077,000, the bulk of which will go to the Federal Depository Library Program. The permanent, 26-volume bound version of the Congressional Record will be converted to CD-ROM--a move projected to save more than $1 million a year. Converting the Congressional Serial Set, a 60-volume publication, to CD-ROM format is also expected to save another $1 million annually. The Library of Congress will have FY97 available appropriations of $361,896 million which includes the authority to spend receipts of $30,158 million. The bill reauthorized the American Folklife Center for two years and included current level funding for the Center, which had faced a possible 20 percent cut. _________________________________________________________________ FORUM FOCUSES ON FAIR PAY On September 20 Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) chaired the Senate and House Democratic Caucuses forum on the issue of fair pay. Among the witnesses testifying was Michael Marx, a children's librarian for the Montgomery County (MD) Department of Public Libraries, who said he benefitted from pay raises implemented in 1989 to help close the wage differences between jobs held primarily by women and minorities and other Montgomery County workers. Rep. Norton called his testimony "unusual and compelling." Sen. Harkin is the principal sponsor of S. 1650, Fair Pay Act of 1995, while Rep. Norton is principal sponsor of a similar bill, H.R. 1507. The two legislators affirmed their intention to get their bills passed in the next Congress. ALA is on record supporting the bills. _________________________________________________________________ ALAWON is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname]" to . ALAWON archives gopher.ala.org; select ALA Washington Office Newsline. Visit our Web site at . ALA Washington Office 202.628.8410 (V) 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, #403 202.628.8419 (F) Washington, DC 20004-1701 Lynne E. Bradley, Editor Contributors: Anne A. Heanue Mary R. Costabile Deirdre A. Herman All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. =================================================================