ALAWON v6n34 (May 13, 1997) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/alawon/alawon-v6n34 ------------------- ALWN634.TXT follows -------------------- ================================================================= ALAWON Volume 6, Number 34 ISSN 1069-7799 May 13, 1997 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (143 lines) CONGRESS HOLDS HEARINGS ON PUBLIC ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT INFORMATION A. SENATE COMMITTEE ON RULES AND ADMINISTRATION B. FIRST HEARING IN THIS SERIES HELD ON APRIL 24 C. HOUSE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM AND OVERSIGHT _________________________________________________________________ CONGRESS HOLDS HEARINGS ON PUBLIC ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT INFORMATION A. SENATE COMMITTEE ON RULES AND ADMINISTRATION Francis J. Buckley, Jr., ALA Committee on Legislation and chair of the Inter-association Working Group on government information policy, testified on May 8 before the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration on proposed revisions to the law governing government printing, dissemination, and the Federal Depository Library Program. ALA President-elect Barbara Ford had been scheduled to testify, but was unavailable when the hearing was postponed from April 30. During the hearing, Committee Chair Sen. John Warner (R-VA) announced a third hearing later this month to which several federal agencies will be invited. The hearing focused on a draft bill, "Government Printing Office Act of 1997." The proposal was developed by the staff of the Joint Committee on Printing, also chaired by Sen. Warner. The draft is the latest proposal to revise parts of Title 44 of the United States Code, and will be revised following the hearings and introduced. University of Kentucky and Western Kentucky University staff have created a Web version of the draft bill (as it was presented on April 14), linking it to relevant parts of the U.S. Code at http://www.uky.edu/Libraries/jcpbill.html Sen. Warner chaired the first part of the hearing, and then turned the gavel over to Sen. Wendell Ford (D-KY), ranking member of the Committee. Both Senators, and in fact, every witness, said they were in favor of strengthening the Federal Depository Library Program. Sen. Ford was both direct and impassioned in questioning Sally Katzen of the Office of Management and Budget about compliance issues, and was quite critical of the practices of the National Technical Information Service. The Department of Justice representative, Richard Shiffrin, was concerned only about the constitutional issues, and believes that any government operational function--such as printing--should be performed in the executive branch. Buckley said that the library organizations he represented strongly support three of the draft bill's objectives: to strengthen the FDLP; to ensure that government information created at taxpayer expense remains in the public domain; and to ensure that agencies comply with the statutory requirements to provide government information to the public through depository libraries. On the proposal's fourth objective of addressing the Constitutional separation of powers issue by transferring the Government Printing Office to the executive branch, he said that, "We in the library community are not convinced that GPO cannot constitutionally function as an agency located in the legislative branch." Ben Cooper of the Printing Industries of America supported a centralized printing procurement agency. Ronald Dunn of the Information Industries Association supported the FDLP and government information in the public domain, unfettered by copyright or copyright-like restrictions. He said that IIA has not taken an official position regarding the transfer of GPO to the executive branch. B. FIRST HEARING IN THIS SERIES HELD ON APRIL 24 Sen. Warner convened the first hearing on the draft bill on April 24 with these witnesses: Public Printer Michael DiMario; George Lord, Chairman of GPO's Joint Council of Unions; William Boarman, President of the Printing, Publishing and Media Workers Sector of the Communications Workers of America; and Judge Royce Lamberth, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. After stating his support for the Title 44 revision objectives that Sen. Warner is pursuing, DiMario said his most important concern is with the proposal to transfer GPO to the executive branch. He believes that the transfer of JCP authorities to the Public Printer, who would exercise them as a Presidential appointee, would resolve the problem of constitutionality regarding congressional control over executive branch printing. Boarman expressed his support for the overriding goals of "the protection of the public's access to taxpayer-funded information and the assurance of maximum taxpayer benefit by virtue of an efficiently managed centralized printing and document procurement system." DiMario added that while the unions have other concerns related to the reform of Title 44, their overriding concern begins and ends with the premise that the GPO should be placed under executive branch control as a "so-called independent government agency." Judge Lamberth said that the judiciary believes its information procurement process should remain independent of GPO and executive branch control, and that creating a new executive agency, with the authorities as described, potentially challenges the judiciary's independence. C. HOUSE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM AND OVERSIGHT Also on May 8, the House Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology, chaired by Rep. Steve Horn (R-CA), held a hearing on the Government Printing Office and Executive Branch information dissemination. Robert Oakley, Director of the Law Library at Georgetown University Law Center, testified on behalf of six library organizations including ALA. Oakley stressed users needs both print and electronic formats, and the need for a strong, centralized, coordinated program for efficient and effective access to government information. The text of Oakley's statement can be found at http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/aallwash/tm059701.html _________________________________________________________________ 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 listproc @ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. Visit our Web site at http://www.alawash.org. ALA Washington Office 202.628.8410 (V) 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, #403 202.628.8419 (F) Washington, DC 20004-1701 800.941.8478 (V) Lynne E. Bradley, Editor Deirdre Herman, Managing Editor Contributors: Anne Heanue All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. =================================================================