ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 1084/C & R L News Washington Hotline Carol C. H enderson (202) 547-4440; (ALA0024) ALA W ashington Office Congress was in session so late in an election year th at it set records. T he 101st Congress adjourned shortly after 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, O ctober 28, after approving a massive reconciliation bill (H R 5835) to im plem ent a last m inute budget agreem ent. T he P resident signed the m easure on N ovem ber 5, ending months o f difficult budget negotiations by congressional leaders and Administration officials. Sen. Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) was responsible for th e inclusion in H R 5835 o f a one-year correction to a 1986 tax law provision which had reduced th e incentive for high-income individuals subject to the alternative m inim um tax to donate tangible personal property such as artworks and m anuscripts to charitable institutions such as m useum s and libraries. F o r 1991 only, th e full m arket value o f such donations has b een restored. Creators o f such works, however, are still lim ited to deducting only the cost o f the materials used, and not th e fair m arket value, w hen donating th eir works. Funding. Although th reaten ed with massive deficit reduction cuts, most library program s received modest, or in some cases, significant increases. T he H igher Education Act title II library program s were up 4% over FY 1990 levels. Final funding for selected program s is shown below: PROGRAM GPO SuDocs H E A II-B, training, research II-C, research libraries II-D, college lib. tech. III, developing institutions IV-C, college work study VI, international education Library of Congress LSCA I public library services II public library construction III interlibrary cooperation V foreign language acq. pub. libs. VI library literacy National Agricultural Library National Archives Natl. Center for Educ. Stats. NCLIS Natl. Endowment for Humanities Natl. Historical Pubs. & Records Com. National Library of Medicine & MLAA Postal revenue forgone subsidy FY 1990 F U N D IN G $24,214,000 855,000 5,738,000 3,732,000 196,170,000 601,765,000 34,658,000 266,720,000 82,505,000 18,900,000 19,551,000 -0- 5,365,000 14,676,000 119,910,000 39,739,000 750,000 156,910,000 4,930,000 85,728,000 453,425,000 FY 1991 F U N D IN G $25,745,000 976,000 5,855,000 3,904,000 204,835,000 594,689,000 40,012,000 299,055,000 83,898,000 19,218,000 19,908,000 976,000 8,163,000 16,798,000 132,969,000 58,948,000 732,000 170,004,000 5,250,000 92,140,000 472,592,000 LC. T he Library of Congress ended up with $299 million for FY ’91, a significant 12% increase, although LC had requested 22% The total allows for $5.2 million toward the processing o f its 38 million (continued on next page) December 1 9 9 0 / 1085 item arrearage, designated a high priority by Congress. Along th e way, th e Senate voted 73-22 on O ctober 25 to exempt LC from an am endm ent to cut Legislative Branch funding 5% across-the-board. Sen. Timothy W irth (D-CO) proposed th e exem ption to p ro tect L C ’s services to th e nation’s libraries. Sen. Albert Gore, Jr., (D -TN ) in supporting th e W irth am endm ent, m ade connections betw een LC and his bill to create a National Research and E ducation Network. H e also said: “I had th e pleasure and privilege o f working closely with th e American Library Association, and librarians from all over th e U nited States in drafting those parts o f th e inform ation superhighway bill th a t relate to digital libraries and the information infrastructure.” N R E N . No action was taken by th e H ouse on legislation to authorize a National Research and Education network, so S. 1067 died, although it passed th e Senate by voice vote on O ctober 24. Sen. Gore is expected to reintroduce N R E N legislation next year, and in th e m eantim e, increm ental upgrading of N SFN ET and th e In te rn e t continues. T he version passed by th e Senate was revised to settle a congressional jurisdictional dispute. In th e process, th e bill lost some o f th e “E ” in th e N R E N as originally envisioned; th e National Science Foundation was no longer clearly identified as th e lead agency, and commitments w ere w eakened to uniform netw ork architecture and im plem enting standards, network services, software, and basic research and education. P e r m a n e n t p a p e r . T he H ouse passed its version o f legislation to establish a national policy on perm anent papers in Septem ber. S.J. Res. 57, first introduced by Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-RI), was signed into law (PL 101-423) on O ctober 12. P resident Bush issued a short statem ent th at day in which he said the m easure “brings to public attention th e fact th a t future generations o f Americans will lose access to documents o f enduring value unless we take action.” PRA. R eauthorization o f th e Paperw ork Reduction Act failed to pass before Congress adjourned. Although th e H ouse on O ctober 23 passed H R 3695 by voice vote, S. 1742 was not brought to th e Senate floor. T he Senate bill, if acted upon, apparently would have reflected a recen t agreem ent among H ouse and Senate com m ittee leadership, th e Administration, and o th er interested parties. T he com prom ise version o f S. 1742, however, did not get floor action in th e waning hours o f th e session. N E A /N E H . Congress on O ctober 27 approved and th e P resident signed on N ovem ber 5 a three-year reauthorization o f the National E ndow m ent for th e Arts and th e National E ndow m ent for the H um anities as a provision in th e bill (H R 5769) funding th e endow m ents. T he list o f restrictions on th e types o f art that may be funded was dropped, b u t th e NEA C hair is to make sure th at grants take “into consideration general standards o f decency and respect for th e diverse beliefs and values o f the American public.” T he share o f NEA m oney going to state program s will be gradually increased from the cu rren t 20% to 35% in FY ’93, and various changes w ere m ade to the NEA p rocedures for making grants. In addition, grantees whose work is later found to violate obscenity laws would have to pay back grant funds. The constitution­ ality o f th e decency provision is uncertain, b u t overall th e result is less dam aging than expected given the heat o f th e controversy. C o p y r ig h t. The C o m p u ter Software Rental A m endm ents (S. 198 and H R 5498) w ere given last- minute congressional approval and sent to th e President as Title V III o f a bill (H R 5316) creating new federal judgeships. The software provision w ould expand th e lim ited exception to the first sale doctrine Congress m ade with respect to phonorecords. As with phonorecords, com puter program s u n d e r the provisions o f th e legislation may not, for purposes o f direct or indirect com mercial advantage, be rented, eased, or lent. An exem ption would be provided for th e rental, lease or lending o f com puter software for nonprofit purposes by nonprofit libraries and nonprofit educational institutions. T he transfer o f possession o f a lawfully m ade copy o f a com puter program by one nonprofit educational institution to another or to faculty, staff, or students w ould also be exempt. All copies o f software lent by nonprofit libraries m ust bear a notice, to be prescribed by th e R egister o f Copyrights, warning borrowers that unauthorized copying may violate th e copyright laws. Action on legislation to revise th e fair use doctrine em bodied in the Copyright Act to clarify th a t it applied to unpublished as well as published works was postponed until the 102nd Congress.