ALAWON v4n52 (June 7, 1995)
URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/alawon/alawon-v4n52

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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 52
                               June 7, 1995

In this issue: (209 lines)
     SENATE SCHEDULED TO DEBATE TELECOMMUNICATIONS BILL THIS WEEK
          ACTION NEEDED:  CONTINUE CALLS TO SUPPORT SNOWE-ROCKEFELLER
            AMENDMENT IN S. 652 AND REMOVE EXON-GORTON AMENDMENT
     ALA COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION SCHEDULES TWO PROGRAMS AT CHICAGO ANNUAL
          CONFERENCE:
          * COPYRIGHT SUBCOMMITTEE AND ACRL COPYRIGHT COMMITTEE
             COSPONSOR PROGRAM ON FAIR USE IN THE ELECTRONIC ENVIRONMENT
          * TELECOMMUNICATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE SPONSORS PROGRAM:
             TELECOMMUNICATION DEVELOPMENT AND POLICY:
             A STATE PERSPECTIVE

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       SENATE SCHEDULED TO DEBATE TELECOMMUNICATIONS BILL THIS WEEK

                 ACTION NEEDED:  CONTINUE CALLS TO SUPPORT
                   SNOWE-ROCKEFELLER AMENDMENT IN S. 652
                     AND REMOVE EXON-GORTON AMENDMENT

S. 652, the Telecommunications Rewrite Act of 1995, could come to the
Senate floor for debate on June 7.  It's exact timing, earlier or later,
depends upon how the Senate proceeds on the terrorism bill.  This continues
to be a critical time for library supporters to keep up the momentum to
keep the Snowe-Rockefeller-Kerrey-Exon (SRKE) amendment in S. 652.  Efforts
should also continue to remove the Exon-Gorton "Decency Act" amendment.

The SRKE amendment provides for affordable or incremental cost-based rates
for libraries, K-12 schools, and rural healthcare providers.  The amendment
remains at risk of being weakened or even eliminated unless its importance
to the education and library community is strongly communicated to the
Senators.

The regional Bell-companies continue to seek alternative language for this
amendment and some Senators have indicated they would like to see the whole
amendment removed.  Senator Bob Dole (R-KS) is rumored to be considering an
alternative proposal, though no specific language has been seen by ALA.  It
has been difficult to count votes on the SRKE amendment because of the
complexity of the whole bill and because Senate attention has not yet
closely focused on S. 652.  That will inevitably change this week.

Because the SRKE amendment is a small portion of the overall bill, the
Snowe-Rockefeller amendment is especially vulnerable in the crush to get
agreement on other provisions from the many parts of the telecommunications
industry as well as key Senators.  Since there is NO mention of libraries
in the comparable House bill, H.R. 1555, and the school provision in it is
extremely weak, it is even more important that the Senate retain this
amendment as the two houses of Congress proceed to a conference committee
on their respective bills.

Meanwhile, there is still concern about the Exon Decency Act amendment.  S.
652 is not the appropriate venue for discussion of such a critical free
speech issue nor is the highly regulatory approach to "electronic
pornography" and related issues consistent with the other deregulatory
purposes of this bill.  (See earlier issues of ALAWON for reports on both
of these amendments.)

ACTION NEEDED:  CONTINUE CALLS TO SUPPORT SNOWE-ROCKEFELLER-KERREY-EXON
AMENDMENT IN S. 652 AND REMOVE EXON-GORTON AMENDMENT - Library supporters
should increase their efforts to contact all Senators to support the SRKE
amendment in S. 652 which provides for affordable or incremental-cost based
rates for libraries, K-12 schools, and rural healthcare providers.  Since
this is the most major revision of the Communications Act of 1934 in over
60 years, it is imperative that education and libraries be reflected fairly
in this rewrite to ensure fair and equitable access to the information
superhighway for all Americans.

Supporters should also press for Senators to remove the Exon-Gorton Decency
Act amendment.  As previously reported in ALAWON, there is another bill, S.
714, introduced by Senator Leahy, which is a reasonable alternative to
addressing the issues of parental control and "user empowerment" on the
information superhighway.

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          ALA COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION SCHEDULES TWO SUBCOMMITTEE
                 PROGRAMS AT CHICAGO ALA ANNUAL CONFERENCE

The following programs, sponsored by two subcommittees of the Committee on
Legislation, are scheduled for the 1995 ALA Annual Conference scheduled
June 23-29 in Chicago, Illinois.  The ALA Washington Office Legislative
Update is scheduled for Saturday, June 24 from 9:30 am - 12:30 pm.  The
program for the Update will be published in an issue of ALAWON later this
week.

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                    The American Library Association's
            Legislation Committee Ad Hoc Copyright Subcommittee
                                    and
              Association of College and Research Libraries'
                            Copyright Committee

                           present a program on

                  FAIR USE IN THE ELECTRONIC ENVIRONMENT

              Saturday, June 24, 1995 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

                     McCormick Place Convention Center
                             Chicago, Illinois
                                Room N 228

     Fair use and equitable access of information on the Internet and
     the future National Information Infrastructure are of vital
     interest to the library community.  The American Library
     Association has taken an active role in ensuring that information
     will be available to the public in a rich variety of formats and
     options in the future, especially for those who can least afford
     it.  Come hear experts in the field assess the mercurial state of
     current affairs on this topic.

                                MODERATORS

                Sarah Cox, Chair, ACRL Copyright Committee
         Edward J. Valauskas, Chair, ALA Legislation Committee's
                       Ad Hoc Copyright Subcommittee

                                   PANEL

Marybeth Peters, Register of Copyrights, U.S. Copyright Office

Kenneth Crews, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, and
author of _Copyright, Fair Use, and the Challenge for Universities_,
published by the University of Chicago Press

Willajeanne McLean, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Connecticut

Joseph H. Esposito, President of Encyclopaedia Britannica North America

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The American Library Association's
Legislation Committee - Telecommunications Subcommittee

presents a program on

TELECOMMUNICATION DEVELOPMENT AND POLICY:  A STATE PERSPECTIVE

Monday, June 26, 1995
from 9:00 to ll:00 am

McCormick Place Convention Center
Chicago, Illinois
Room E 256

This program addresses the expanding role of the states in the development
of our telecommunications infrastructure with experiences and perspectives
from the field.  Participants will include Laura Breeden, Director of the
Information Infrastructure Assistance Program in the U.S. Commerce
Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, as
well as other representatives of the telecommunications industry, state
regulators, local access providers, funders, and librarians who have taken
the lead in shaping the legislative and regulatory agenda at the state
level.

                                 MODERATOR
                              Elaine Albright
         Director, University of Maine - Raymond H. Fogler Library
               and Chair of the ALA Legislation Committee's
                      Telecommunications Subcommittee

STRATEGIC QUESTIONS:   What specific steps can the American Library
Association, the Committee on Legislation, and the Telecommunications
Subcommittee of COL take to effectively help at the state and local levels?
What can state associations do to help at the national level?

The success of this program depends on participants' sharing their
experiences, their triumphs and failures, their ideas, resources and
knowledge of the possibilities and the pitfalls.  Please bring handouts,
position papers, samples of regulatory or legislative proposals, contact
persons, media coverage, etc., to share with other participants.

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