Committee R on government relations: 1999

The first session of the 106th Congress lugged to a stop on November 22 with major issues unresolved. Unable to come to a timely agreement on appropriations for fiscal 2000 (which began October 1, 1999), Congress passed eight continuing resolutions, each one buying a little more time while negotiations continued. A final budget deal was approved on November 19 and 20, and the president signed the legislation several days later, upon his return from Europe. This final bill included agreements on the five remaining appropriations bills: foreign aid; Department of Interior; Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State; the District of Columbia; and Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.

Higher education issues did not occupy Congress's center stage as they did during the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act last year, but several items of critical importance to faculty and students were enacted. The Association's Government Relations office monitored and responded to federal legislation as guided by the Association's legislative priorities, described below in italics.

Access to Researchers' Data

It is a telling commentary on the 106th Congress that the major legislative activity of the Government Relations office this year has been dealing with something the 105th Congress did. We have worked very hard to reverse, or at least minimize, the impact of a two-sentence rider that was added to last year's omnibus appropriations bill in the final hours of negotiation. The two sentences required the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to issue directions to all federal agencies "to ensure that all data produced under an award will be made available to the public through the procedures established under the Freedom of Information Act."

The Association supported H.R. 88, introduced by the late Rep. George Brown (D-Calif.), to repeal the rider, and responded substantively to OMB's "request for comments" on its first and second proposed rules to implement this legislation. AAUP staff also worked with coalitions of education and public interest groups to influence the OMB as it developed the regulations. Ultimately, the OMB narrowed the definition of "research data" and limited public access through the Freedom of Information Act to occasions on which a federal agency officially cites the findings of a certain research project in a rule-making process. The AAUP expressed "95 percent satisfaction" with the final rule.

Priorities and Actions

Budget, Taxation, and Appropriations

AA UP Priority: Maintain support offederal student financial aid including increases in Pell grants, the direct loan program, and tax provisions that improve access to higher education and encourage participation in careers in higher education. Promote fderal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Support reauthorization and funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Continue to support full funding of scholarly research activities sponsored by federal agencies, including the National Institutes ofHealth and the National Science Foundation.

The Association joined with other national associations to support full funding of student aid and other programs related to higher education. On the whole, higher-education programs fared relatively well, garnering modest increases for some key programs. Student aid, however, still lags far behind actual expenses, so our concern about access to colleges and universities for all qualified students continues.

This year, a "budget update" was added to the Government Relations Web page. As budget and appropriations developed, staff posted commentary and available budget figures.

Intellectual Property and Publishing Issues

AA UP Priority: Monitor and protect the principles of academic freedom and access to information in the development of treaties and new legislation affecting intellectual property issues, including issues arising in the development of technological innovations. Promote legislation to change the tax treatment of inventory to enhance the availability of textbooks and reference works.

The House considered two bills to provide protection for commercial databases. The House Judiciary Committee approved H.R. 354, the Collections of Information Antipiracy Act, which would extend copyright protection to databases and collections of facts, and would create civil and criminal penalties for "misappropriation" of data from those databases. The Association opposed this bill because of concerns that it limits or denies access to information currently available to researchers. Specifically, we objected to the overly broad prohibition of "extraction or use" of entire, or substantial parts of, collections of information. The bill's exemptions for nonprofits and educational institutions are not comprehensive enough to alleviate those concerns.

The House Commerce Committee approved H.R. 1858, the Consumer and Investor Access to Information Act of 1999, which prohibits commerce in duplicated databases. The bill also specifics that it does not affect "rights, limitations, or remedies concerning copyright," and it provides exemptions for scientific, educational, or research purposes, as long as those purposes are "not part of a consistent pattern engaged in for the purpose of direct commercial competition." The Association has not taken a position on H.R. 1858 at this time.