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Legislative Alert: Museum & Library Services Act Signed Into Law

Libraries are urged to contact their US Representatives and Senators to thank them for passing the Museum and Library Services Act of 2003 (which includes the reauthorization of the LSTA program) into law. Now that the law has been passed action is needed to urge legislators to fund LSTA at the authorized levels. See the following ALA news item.

ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 12, Number 87
September 25, 2003

In This Issue: MUSEUM AND LIBRARY SERVICES ACT SIGNED INTO LAW
BY PRESIDENT-ACTION NEEDED ON FUNDING FOR FY2004

At approximately 10 o'clock on September 25, President Bush signed H.R.
13, the Museum and Library Services Act of 2003 into law. The
legislation sets the authorization level for library programs at $232
million. If funding is achieved at that level, the new formula
distribution would take place and the base amount given to each state
would double. Since the formula was first set in 1971, this change
would help small states, while holding harmless large states. The
legislation reauthorizes the Museum and Library Services Act until 2009.

ACTION NEEDED:
As you know, Congress is still engaged in finishing the appropriations
bills or funding for programs for FY2004. Now that we have a new piece
of legislation, we would like to thank the Members of House and Senate
for passing the legislation, but also point out to them the need for
funding the law at the proposed level of $232 million for library
programs. Unless all Members of Congress hear from library supporters
in large emphatic numbers, libraries will get less funding than that in
FY2003. We urge all of you to participate in this effort.

We have put together sample letters for each state with exactly what
the amount would be for state library programs if appropriators fund the
Museum and Library Services Act at the stipulated levels. You may find
your state sample letter on the web site at: http://www.ala.org/ogr -
click on "Hot Topics".
Please insert information on how these funds benefit residents of your
state and what the state critical information needs are. We hope you
can use this material to thank legislators for their work and urge them
to ask appropriators for the full amount of funding for library
programs.

We expect appropriators from House and Senate to be working on the
remaining appropriations bills during the month of October. The
appropriations bills for FY2004 for Labor, Health and Human Services and
Education contain the funding for library programs under the Institute
for Museum and Library Services. The bill numbers are H.R. 2660 for the
House bill and S. 1356 for the Senate. We will update you on the
progress of the conference on the two bills, which has yet to occur.

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ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403,
Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478
toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site:
http://www.ala.org/washoff. Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff.
Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Camille Bowman,
Mary Costabile, Don Essex, Patrice McDermott and Miriam Nisbet. Office
for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Kathy