[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
ALA Alert on Pricing Waiver for Government Information
- To: tap-info@tap.org
- Subject: ALA Alert on Pricing Waiver for Government Information
- From: James Love <love@tap.org>
- Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 09:04:08 -0500 (EST)
ISSN 1069-7799
ALAWON
ALA Washington Office Newsline
An electronic publication of the
American Library Association Washington Office
Volume 4, Number 11
February 17, 1995
In this issue: (237 lines)
ACTION ALERT: IMMEDIATE RESPONSE NEEDED
PUBLIC ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT INFORMATION THREATENED
IN H.R. 830 WAIVER PROVISION
***************************************************************************
ACTION ALERT: IMMEDIATE RESPONSE NEEDED
PUBLIC'S ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT INFORMATION THREATENED
IN HR 830 WAIVER PROVISION
H.R. 830, the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, is expected to be voted on
in the House of Representatives on February 23. The bill contains a
provision, Sec. 3506(d)(4)(D), that will determine how much money federal
agencies can charge for information products and services.
BACKGROUND: On February 6, 1995, Representative William Clinger (R-PA),
introduced H.R. 830, which contained a new provision that would authorize
the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to waive any limits on
agency user fees for public information after an agency meets several
criteria, including a notice published in the Federal Register. The waiver
provision is new, and had not appeared in any previous versions of the
bill.
In S. 244, the Senate version, prices are LIMITED to dissemination costs.
In H.R. 9, the first House version of the bill, prices were REQUIRED to be
set at dissemination costs, unless certain conditions are met. Now in H.R.
830, prices are limited to dissemination cost, BUT that limit can be waived
by the agency after putting a notice in the FEDERAL REGISTER and meeting
some other broad criteria. The waiver provision would in effect gut the
protection from excessive user fees that is in S. 244.
In legislation introduced in earlier years the pricing limit would have
been the "marginal" or "incremental" cost of dissemination, so that the
public would pay only for what it cost to add the public to a dissemination
system. The incremental cost rule is also in effect in various versions of
the statutes covering the Government Printing Office and the Freedom of
Information Act. It is also a concept that in recent years has received
widespread acceptance from both public right-to-know advocates and vendors.
Reportedly the waiver provision was added at the request of Sally Katzen,
the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
(OIRA). Attention to this new waiver provision was diverted during last
week's debate over the "West Provision" which was removed from H.R. 830
during mark-up. (See ALAWON, Vol. 4, No. 9 for a report on the West
provision of H.R. 830 that would have given proprietary rights to
government information to corporate interests.)
On February 16, the American Library Association joined the American
Association of Law Libraries, the Association of Research Libraries, and
the Special Libraries Association, in sending a letter to Sally Katzen
asking her to request that the waiver section be removed from H.R. 830.
The letter expresses concern that agencies would be allowed to charge fees
in excess of costs for access to government information by obtaining a
waiver from the Director of Office of Management and Budget.
The letter said, in part: "We believe these potentially excessive fees are
contrary to sound government information policy and contrary to policies
embodied in OMB Circular A-130 and earlier drafts of the Paperwork
Reduction Act." Such a waiver clause potentially removes the limits on
pricing which guarantees timely, equal and equitable access to government
information.
The following is the pricing provision language as it presently stands in
HR 830:
Sec. 3506 (d) With respect to information dissemination each
agency shall -
(4) not, except where specifically authorized by
statute -
(A) establish an exclusive, restricted, or
other distribution arrangement that
interferes with timely and equitable
availability of public information to the
public;
(B) restrict or regulate the use, resale, or
redissemination of public information by the
public;
(C) charge fees or royalties for resale or
redissemination of public information; or
(D) establish user fees for public
information that exceed the cost of
dissemination, except that the Director may
waive the application of this subparagraph to
an agency, if -
(i) the head of the agency submits a written
request to the Director, publishes a notice
of the request in the FEDERAL REGISTER, and
provides a copy of the request to the public
upon request;
(ii) the Director sets forth in writing a
statement of the scope conditions, and
duration of the waiver and the reasons for
granting it, and makes such statement
available to the public upon request; and
(iii) the granting of the waiver would not
materially impair the timely and equitable
availability of public information to the
public.
ACTION NEEDED: Library supporters and others concerned about the public's
access to government information, are urged to contact their Congressional
Representative and urge strong opposition to the user fee waiver provision
in H.R. 830. Ask your Member of Congress to offer a floor amendment to
amend H.R. 830 by striking everything, starting with "except," in Section
3506 (d)(4)(D), thus limiting user fees to the cost of dissemination.
It is important to contact all Members of the House of Representatives,
particularly members of the House Committee on Government Reform and
Oversight.
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM AND OVERSIGHT
Majority: Minority:
William Clinger, (R-PA), Chair Cardiss Collins, (D-IL)
Benjamin Gilman (R-NY) Henry Waxman (D-CA)
Dan Burton (R-IN) Tom Lantos (D-CA)
Constance Morella (R-MD) Robert Wise (D-WV)
Christopher Shays (R-CT) Major R.Owens (D-NY)
Steven Schiff (R-NM) Edolphus Towns (D-NY)
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) John Spratt (D-SC)
William Zeliff, Jr. (R-NH) Louise Slaughter (D-NY)
John McHugh (R-NY) Paul Kanjorski (D-PA)
Stephen Horn (R-CA) Gary Condit (D-CA)
John Mica (R-FL) Collin Peterson (D-MN)
Peter Blute (R-MA) Karen Thurman (D-FL)
Thomas Davis (R-VA) Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)
David McIntosh (R-IN) Thomas Barrett (D-WI)
Jon Fox (R-PA) Gene Taylor (D-MS)
Randy Tate (R-WA) Barbara Rose Collins (MI),
Dick Chrysler (R-MI) Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC)
Gil Gutknecht (R-MN) James Moran (D-VA)
Mark Souder (R-IN) Gene Green (D-TX)
William Martini (R-NJ) Carrie Meek D-FL)
Joe Scarborough (R-FL) Frank Mascara (D-PA)
John Shadegg (R-AZ) Chaka Fattah (D-PA)
Michael Patrick Flanagan (R-IL)
Charles Bass (R-NH)
Steven LaTourette (R-OH)
Marshall Sanford (R-SC)
Robert Ehrlich (R-MD)
Independent: Bernard Sanders (I-VT)
-----------------------
note, for a list of telephone and fax numbers for these members, send a
note to mike@tap.org or the information can be obtained from the tap
directory at gopher.essential.org
jamie love (love@tap.org)
Taxpayer Assets Project
202/387-8030; P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036