Library advocates with members on the Senate Commerce Committee are asked to call Senators today:
Urge Senate Commerce Committee members to maintain Universal Service Fund/E-rate provisions and add network neutrality language during the pending markup of S. 2686 (see full message points below).
For those advocates without a Commerce Committee member, please contact your Senator and ask him or her to urge their Senate colleagues to support these two important issues.
DEADLINE: Please contact Senators before the Committee markup -- currently scheduled for sometime between June 20-22, 2006.
MESSAGES:
Network Neutrality:
• Urge senators to include the Snowe-Dorgan network neutrality proposal as an amendment to S. 2686. The library community supports a proactive approach to preserving diverse sources of information on the Internet by passing enforceable network neutrality language. It is too risky not to pass affirmative language at this time especially since there has been little attention paid to the public sector implications if S. 2686 is passed without network neutrality protections.
• ALA urges inclusion of the Internet Freedom Act, S. 2917, introduced by Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND), and cosponsored by Senators Inouye, Wyden, Leahy, Boxer, Obama and Clinton. Because only two senators (Boxer and Dorgan) spoke favorably about network neutrality during the June 13th hearing, it is even more important that grassroots library supporters contact senators now.
• Libraries of all types are providers, creators and users of digital information and serve users with on-site Internet access in libraries and remote access to online catalogs and collections. Libraries' ability to provide services to our communities could be at risk in a tiered Internet environment. Libraries, K-12 and higher education and many other public sector institutions should not be marginalized or moved into slower tiers in favor of big corporations.
Universal Service and the E-rate:
• The library community applauds Senate efforts to stabilize the Universal Service Fund and maintain the E-rate. Thank senators for their ongoing support of E-rate discounts and for exempting USF programs from Anti-Deficiency Act accounting requirements in S. 2686.
• The E-rate program is working by making telecommunications services affordable to libraries and schools in the poorest communities. Communities benefit by having Internet access at their libraries, especially in those high-poverty areas that receive the deepest discounts and need the E-rate to support the ongoing costs of connectivity.
• The E-rate is a capped program within the Universal Service Fund and is providing stable and predictable support for the ongoing costs of connectivity. The program promotes the build-out of broadband services and establishes new markets for telecommunications providers. The education and training done by libraries and others raises new demands and public expectations that help create new consumers of broadband services and benefits.