ALAWON v4n26 (March 20, 1995)
URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/alawon/alawon-v4n26

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                                                                  ISSN 1069-7799
                                     ALAWON
                         ALA Washington Office Newsline
                        An electronic publication of the
                 American Library Association Washington Office
 
                              Volume 4, Number 26
                                 March 20, 1995
 
   In this issue: (184 lines)
     NTIA INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE GRANTS THREATENED BY RESCISSIONS -
          ACTION NEEDED:  IMMEDIATE RESPONSE NEEDED TO SAVE TIIAP GRANTS
     LEGISLATIVE REORGANIZATION BILLS INTRODUCED IN CONGRESS
          DUNN BILL H.R. 1024 INTRODUCED TO "TRANSFORM" GPO
          AIR LINE FUEL TAX REPEAL LINKED TO PRIVATIZING GPO
          HAMILTON INTRODUCES LEGISLATIVE REORGANIZATION ACT OF 1995
 
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      NTIA INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM THREATENED BY RESCISSIONS -
         ACTION ALERT:  IMMEDIATE RESPONSE NEEDED TO SAVE TIIAP GRANTS
 
The "TIIAP technology grants" administered by the National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in the Department
of Commerce may be zeroed-out in this latest round of rescissions.  Several
of these grants, officially called the Telecommunications and Information
Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP), were received by a number of
libraries or had libraries as partners in community coalitions that
received awards last Fall.
 
$24.4 million in grants were awarded in FY1994.  The original FY1995 budget
appropriated $63 million.  But now the Senate has accepted an amendment
offered by Senators Gramm and Hollings to HR 889, Emergency Supplemental
Appropriations and Rescissions Act of 1995, which will rescind $34 million
from the Information Infrastructure grants.  The rationale offered for this
cut was that the program has not been fully authorized by Congress in
previous legislative action.
 
An additional $30 million is proposed to be rescinded from the TIIAP grants
in H.R. 1158, passed by the House.  If both of these rescissions pass
Congress in their present form, NTIA will have NO funding for the FY1995
Information Infrastructure grants
 
It was only a few weeks ago, that NTIA announced March 23 as the deadline
for letters of intent for potential TIIAP applicants.  Last year the
Department of Commerce reported that the $24.4 million in TIIAP grants had
leveraged $43 million of additional private, state and local funding in the
48 jurisdictions that had received the grants.
 
ACTION NEEDED:
To show support for these grants, please contact your Senators and
Representatives to express your support for the NTIA-TIIAP grants program.
Ask your Congressional representatives to appropriate and authorize the
TIIAP program for this year.  To insure future support for the program
Congress must actually authorize the TIIAP program.
 
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            LEGISLATIVE REORGANIZATION BILLS INTRODUCED IN CONGRESS
 
               DUNN BILL H.R. 1024 INTRODUCED TO "TRANSFORM" GPO
 
H.R. 1024, a bill to "improve the dissemination of information and printing
procedures of the government," was introduced on February 23 by
Representative Jennifer Dunn (R-WA) and 27 colleagues.  H.R. 1024 would
transform the Government Printing Office into a procurement agency that,
with some exceptions, would procure printing from the private sector for
Congress, the Executive Branch, and the Judiciary.  The bill would permit
executive branch agencies and GPO to print in-house, as long as the order
does not exceed 4,000 copies of a single sheet document, or 20,000 sheets
for a multi-paged document.  Executive branch agencies could procure
printing if approved by written waiver by the Public Printer.
 
In a February 23 statement to the Legislative Branch Appropriations
Subcommittee about the bill, Dunn said that "requiring that all printing go
through GPO procurement helps to eliminate the fugitive document problem."
She continued, "my bill specifically protects the needs of the 1400
depository libraries, and therefore the ability of the American public to
access information."
 
Dunn, responding to librarians' concerns, included a requirement that
contracts for publications must include a term that a sufficient quantity
of the product be made available to the Superintendent of Documents for
inclusion in the depository library program.  The bill also would keep the
procurement and dissemination functions together.  Keeping these functions
together is essential in assuring that publications in all formats will get
to depository libraries and the public.  Without such an arrangement the
number of fugitive documents will increase.
 
However, the bill would alter the balance of power over the printing and
publishing operations of the federal government since it abolishes the
Joint Committee on Printing (JCP) and diffuses its responsibilities to a
number of entities.  Those entities include the Senate Committee on Rules
and Administration, the House Committee on Oversight, the Secretary of the
Senate, an "appropriate official of the House of Representatives," the
Public Printer, and the Office of Management and Budget.
 
There would no longer be a focal point, a joint entity where differences of
opinion on policy and procedures can be resolved.  GPO will have many
masters.  The public's ability to easily contact a body accountable for
GPO's actions will be eliminated.
 
By transferring the administrative functions of the JCP to GPO, the bill
would add to the power of the Public Printer in such areas as cataloging
(sec. 1710), how to save money in running the depository library program
(sec. 1914), and the sales program (sec. 1108).  The avenue of appeal to a
higher authority would be eliminated.  The Public Printer would no longer
have to submit plans for approval to a Congressional committee.
 
H.R. 1024 has been referred to the Committee on House Oversight chaired by
Rep. Bill Thomas (R-CA), who has said he would hold hearings this spring on
the future of GPO.  The bill is supported by the printing industry.
 
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               AIR LINE FUEL TAX REPEAL LINKED TO PRIVATIZING GPO
 
On January 31 Representative Dunn issued a press release linking her goal
of privatizing the Government Printing Office with efforts to repeal the
airline fuel tax.  Dunn joined Representatives Mac Collins (R-GA), Sue
Myrick (R-FL), William Clinger (R-PA), Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), Phil English
(R-PA), Mike Parker (D-MS), James Talent (R-MO), John Linder (R-GA), Jack
Kingston (R-GA), Jim Bunning (R-KY), Gerald Solomon (R-NY), Dennis Hastert
(R-IL), Norman Mineta (D-CA), Bud Shuster (R-PA), James Oberstar (D-MN),
John Duncan (R-TN), Harris Fawell (R-IL), Jack Quinn (R-NY), and Jim
Ramstad (R-MN), in introducing H.R. 752, the Commercial Aviation Fuel Tax
Repeal Act of 1995.
 
A similar bill, S. 304, was introduced January 31 by Senators Rick Santorum
(R-PA), Richard Bryan (D-NV), Slade Gorton (R-WA), and Carol Moseley-Braun
(D-IL).  Both bills would repeal the airline fuel tax that President
Clinton included in his 1993 budget.  While Congress granted the airlines
industry a two-year exemption from the transportation fuel tax, that
exemption is scheduled to expire by October 1, 1995.
 
According to Dunn, a "significant down payment" to offset the tax repeal
could be found by privatizing GPO.  Dunn plans to sell three GPO buildings
and other assets.
 
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           HAMILTON INTRODUCES LEGISLATIVE REORGANIZATION ACT OF 1995
 
Representative Lee Hamilton (D-IN) introduced H.R. 252, the Legislative
Reorganization Act of 1995, on January 4.  The bill is similar to the
legislative reorganization bill that did not pass in the 103rd Congress
that would have--among many things--abolished the Joint Committee on
Printing and the Joint Committee on the Library and transferred most of
their functions to a proposed Joint Committee on Information Management.
 
H.R. 252 would require that the Government Printing Office the
Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress be reauthorized
every 8 years.  The bill also mentions Depository Libraries in sec. 107,
"Availability of Legislative Information." The section provides that
"appropriate legislative information" should be made available to the
public and the Depository Libraries through a low-cost computer connection.
 
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ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is an irregular publication of the American Library
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Fax: 202-547-7363.  Contributing to this issue:  Anne A. Heanue; Editor:
Lynne E. Bradley (leb@alawash.org).
 
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