ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C&RL News ■ February 2000 / 129 W a s h i n g t o n H o t l i n e Lynne E. Bradley Much w o rk le ft b y C o n g re s s fo r th e n e xt se ssio n The main accomplishment by the 106th Con gress in its first session was FY2000 appro priations. But there are many other pending pieces o f legislation remaining for the second session, which started in late January. Con gress has only about 100 working days sched uled, another com plex appropriations debate brewing, and a backdrop of a presidential elec tion year. Selected major pending legislative issues that ALA will follow this session include: • D a t a b a s e P r o tec tio n L eg islation . Tw o dueling bills were introduced in the first ses sion to provide new protection for databases in addition to protection already provided under copyright law. As previously reported, the Collections o f Information Antipiracy Act (H R. 354) is a seriously flawed bill spon sored by Rep. Howard Coble (R-North Caro­ lina). This legislation, if passed, would pro­ vide copyright-like ownership o f facts. Re­ peated attempts to present the bill for a vote by the full House were postponed thanks in part to academic librarians and their support­ ers. ALA supported an alternative bill, the Consumer Investor Access to Information Act (H.R. 1858), sponsored by Rep. Tom Bliley (R-Virginia). Both bills have been reported out o f their respective committees; contin­ ued attempts to move to floor action are e x ­ pected this session. • ESEA R ea u th o riz a tio n . Reauthorizing the Elem entary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is important to all types o f libraries, especially school libraries. Several bills were reported out o f the House Education and the Workforce Committee, including the Dollars to the Classroom Act (H.R. 2) and the Aca­ demic Improvement for All Students Act (H.R. 2300) were passed by the House as part o f the reauthorization package, but no Senate action occurred before the end o f session. Sen. Ja ck Reed (D-Rhode Island) and Rep. Major Owens (D-New York) introduced the Elementary and Secondary School Library and Media R esources, Training and Advanced Technology Act in the Senate and the House (S. 1262, H.R. 3222). The bills would provide up-to-date school library media resources and well-trained, pro­ fessional certified school library media spe­ cialists for elementary schools and second ­ ary schools. There has been no hearing on the House bill. • F ilterin g a n d B lo c k in g R eq u irem en ts. Several attempts were made to require pub­ lic libraries and K -1 2 schools to install filter­ ing or blocking software on their computers. Sen. Jo h n McCain (R-Arizona) introduced the Children’s Internet Protection Act (S. 97), which would mandate the use o f technology to block or filter Internet access. The Senate Comm erce Committee com ­ pleted action on S. 97 (Rept. 1 0 6 -1 4 1 ), and the GOP High Tech Task Force has listed this as one o f their top priorities for passage early next session. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania) in­ troduced S. 1545, Neighborhood Children’s Internet Protection Act. The bill would re­ quire schools and libraries receiving e-rate discounts to install blocking or filtering sys­ tems or implement Internet-use policies. The bill would also require a study o f available Internet-blocking or filtering software. The bill is seen as a reasonable alternative to the more restrictive S. 97 by McCain. • NTIS C losing. In August 1999 the U.S. Department o f Commerce announced its in­ tention to close the National Technical Infor­ mation Service (NTIS) and transfer its func­ tions to the Library o f Congress (LC). Although hearings were held, the draft bill prepared by the Commerce Department has not been officially introduced. Alternatives about how to continue to manage the various NTIS func­ tions include transferring the functions to the G overnm ent Printing O ffice or a “hybrid” solution with GPO, LC, and NARA accepting a mix o f the functions. Additional information about these and many other issues is available at w w w .ala. org/washoff or by contact us at (800) 941- 8478. ■ Lynne E. Bradley is Office o f Government Relations director o f ALA's W ashington Office; e-mail: leb@alawash.org http://www.ala mailto:leb@alawash.org 130 / C&RL News ■ February 2000