Date: Wed, 3 Mar 1993 14:26:58 EDT
From:
[email protected]
Subject: File 3--GPO ACCESS - WINDO UPDATE
Taxpayer Assets Project
Information Policy Note
February 28, 1993
UPDATE ON WINDO/GATEWAY LEGISLATION
Note: the WINDO/GATEWAY bills from last Congress (HR
2772;
S. 2813) would have provided one-stop-shopping online
access
to federal databases and information systems through the
Government Printing Office (GPO), priced at the
incremental
cost of dissemination for use in homes and offices, and
free
to 1,400 federal depository libraries).
Both the House and Senate are soon expected to introduce
legislation
that would replace the GPO WINDO/GATEWAY bills that were considered
in
the last Congress. According to Congressional staff members, the
bill
will be called "GPO Access." The new name (which may change again)
was only one of many substantive and symbolic changes to the
legislation.
Since the bill is still undergoing revisions, may be possible (in
the
next day or so) to provide comments to members of Congress before
the
legislation is introduced.
The most important changes to the legislation concern the scope and
ambition of the program. While we had expected Congressional
democrats to ask for an even broader public access bill than were
represented by the WINDO (hr 2772) and Gateway (S. 2813) bills, the
opposite has happened. Despite the fact that the legislation is no
longer facing the threat of a Bush veto or an end of session
filibuster (which killed the bills last year), key supporters have
decided to opt for a decidedly scaled down bill, based upon last
year's HR 5983, which was largely written by the House republican
minority (with considerable input from the commercial data vendors,
through the Information Industry Association (IIA)).
The politics of the bill are complex and surprising. The decision
to
go with the scaled down version of the bill was cemented early this
year when representatives of the Washington Office of the American
Library Association (including ALA lobbyist Tom Sussman) meet with
Senator Ford and Representative Rose's staff to express their
support
for a strategy based upon last year's HR 5983, the republican
minority's version of the bill that passed the House (but died in
the
Senate) at the end of last year's session. ALA's actions, which
were
taken without consultation with other citizen groups supporting the
WINDO/GATEWAY legislation, immediately set a low standard for the
scope of this year's bill.
We were totally surprised by ALA's actions, as were many other
groups,
since ALA had been a vigorous and effective proponent of the
original
WINDO/GATEWAY bills. ALA representatives are privately telling
people
that while they still hope for broader access legislation, they are
backing the "compromise bill," which was publicly backed (but
privately opposed) last year by IIA, as necessary, to avoid a more
lengthy fight over the legislation. If the negotiations with the
House and Senate republicans hold up, the new bill will be backed
by
ranking Republicans on the Senate Rules and House Administration
Committees, and passed by Congress on fast track consent calendars.
We only obtained a draft of the legislation last week, and it is
still
a "work in progress." All changes must be approved by key
Republican
members of Senate Rules and House Administration.
Gone from the WINDO/GATEWAY versions of the bill were any funding
(S.
2813 would have provided $13 million over two years) to implement
the
legislation, and any findings which set out the Congressional
intent
regarding the need to provide citizens with broad access to most
federal information systems. Also missing are any references to
making the online system available through the Internet or the
NREN.
WHAT THE GPO ACCESS BILL WILL DO (subject to further changes)
1. Require the Government Printing Office (GPO) to provide
public online access to:
- the Federal Register
- the Congressional Record
- an electronic directory of Federal public information
stored electronically,
- other appropriate publications distributed by the
Superintendent of Documents, and
- information under the control of other federal
departments or agencies, when requested by the
department or agency.
2. Most users will pay user fees equal to the "incremental cost
of
dissemination of the information." This is a very important
feature that was included in the WINDO/GATEWAY legislation.
At
present many federal agencies, including the National
Technical
Information Services (NTIS), make profits on electronic
information products and services. Given the current federal
government fiscal crisis, this strong limit on online prices
is
very welcome.
3. The 1,400 member federal Depository Library Program will have
free access to the system, just as they presently have free
access to thousands of federal publications in paper and
microfiche formats. Issues to be resolved later are who will
pay
for Depository Library Program telecommunications costs, and
whether or not GPO will use the online system to replace
information products now provided in paper or microfiche
formats.
WHAT THE GPO ACCESS BILL DOESN'T DO
- Provide any start-up or operational funding
- Require GPO to provide online access through the Internet
- The Gateway/WINDO bills would have given GPO broad authority
to
publish federal information online, but the new bill would
restrict such authority to documents published by the
Superintendent of Documents (A small subset of federal
information stored electronically), or situations where the
agency itself asked GPO to disseminate information stored in
electronic formats. This change gives agencies more
discretion
in deciding whether or not to allow GPO to provide online
access
to their databases, including those cases where agencies want
to
maintain control over databases for financial reasons (to make
profits).
- Language that would have explicitly allowed GPO to reimburse
agencies for their costs in providing public access was
eliminated in the new bill. This is a potentially important
issue, since many federal agencies will not work with GPO to
provide public access to their own information systems, unless
they are reimbursed for costs that they incur.
- S. 2813 and HR 2772 would have required GPO to publish an
annual
report on the operation of the Gateway/WINDO and accept and
consider *annual* comments from users on a wide range of
issues.
The new bill only makes a general requirement that GPO
"consult"
with users and data vendors. The annual notice requirement
that
was eliminated was designed to give citizens more say in how
the
service evolves, by creating a dynamic public record of
citizen
views on topics such as the product line, prices, standards
and
the quality of the service. Given the poor record of many
federal agencies in dealing with rapidly changing technologies
and addressing user concerns, this is an important omission.
- The WINDO/GATEWAY bills would have required GPO to address
standards issues, in order to simplify public access. The new
bill doesn't raise the issue of standards.
OTHER POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Supporters of a quick passage of the scaled down GPO Access
legislation are concerned about a number of budget, turf and
organizational issues. Examples are:
- Congress is considering the elimination of the Joint Committee
on
Printing, which now has oversight of GPO.
- There are proposals to break-up GPO or to transfer the entire
agency to the Executive Branch, which would slow down action
on
the online program, and may reduce the federal support for the
Federal Depository Library Program, or lead to a different
(and
higher) pricing policy.
- The National Technical Information Service (NTIS) opposes an
important role by GPO in the delivery of online services,
since
NTIS wants to provide these services at unconstrained prices.
It does not appear as though the Clinton/Gore Administration has
had
much input on the GPO Access legislation, which is surprising since
Vice President Gore was the prime sponsor of the GPO Gateway to
Government (S. 2813) bill last year. (Michael Nelson will
reportedly
be moving from the Senate Commerce Committee to the White House to
be
working on these and related information policy issues.)
Even the scaled down GPO Access bill will face opposition.
According
to House republicans, despite IIA's low key public pronouncements,
the
vendor trade group "hates" the bill. Opposition from NTIS is also
anticipated.
TAXPAYER ASSETS PROJECT VIEW
We were baffled and disappointed the decision of ALA and Congress
to
proceed with a scaled down version of last year's bills. We had
hoped
that the election of the Clinton/Gore administration and the
growing
grass roots awareness of public access issues would lead to a
stronger, rather than a weaker, bill. In our view, public
expectations are rapidly rising, and the burden is now on Congress
and
the Administration to break with the past and take public access
seriously. The GPO Access legislation provides incremental
benefits
over the status quo, but less than might seem.
- The statutory mandate to provide online services is useful,
but
public access proponents have always argued that GPO already
has
the authority to create the WINDO/GATEWAY under the current
statutes. In fact, GPO now offers hundreds of CD-ROM titles
and
the online GPO Federal Bulletin Board, a service that could
(and
should) be greatly expanded.
- The three products that the GPO Access bill refers to are
already
online or under development GPO. GPO is now working on the
development of a locator system and an online version of the
Federal Register, and the Congressional Record is already
online
in the Congressional LEGIS system -- a system that is
presently
closed to the public, and which is not mentioned in the GPO
Access bill.
- The "incremental cost of dissemination" provision of the new
bill
is welcome, but GPO is already limited to prices that are 150
percent of dissemination costs.
Several suggestions to strengthen last year's bills were ignored.
Among them:
- Expand the initial core products to include other online
information systems that are already under the control of
congress, such as the Federal Elections Commission (FEC)
online
database of campaign contributions, the House LEGIS system
which
provides online access to the full text of all bills before
Congress, or the Library of Congress Scorpio system.
- Create a special office of electronic dissemination in GPO.
At
present, GPO's electronic products and services are managed by
Judy Russell, who is capable, but who is also responsible for
managing the primarily paper and microfiche based federal
Depository Library Program, a time consuming and complicated
job.
We believe that GPO's electronic dissemination program is
important enough to warrant its own director, whose career
would
depend upon the success of the electronic dissemination
program.
The GPO Access bills will be considered by the following
Congressional Committees:
Senate Committee on Rules and Administration 202/224-6352
Chair, Senator Wendell Ford
Ranking Minority, Senator Ted Stevens
House Committee on House Administration 202/225-225-2061
Chair, Representative Charlie Rose
Ranking Minority, Representative Bill Thomas
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