Federal news While a government shutdown looms, Medicaid legislation (H.R. 7217, IMPROVE Act) passed in the House and has moved to the Senate. Bills passing both House and Senate include S. 2465, Sickle Cell Disease and Other Heritable Blood Disorders Research, Surveillance, Prevention, and Treatment Act and S. 3029 PREEMIE Reauthorization Act of 2018 (to…
Category: Legislation
For news about legislative activity relevant to librarianship. Not for news about or from the HSLI Legislative Committee.
Legislative Action Item – Respond Before 12/4/18: Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability
From the ALA Advocacy Office: With only a few weeks left in this congressional session, we are facing serious threats focused on the U.S. Copyright Office and Library of Congress. Next Tuesday [12/4/18], the Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act (S. 1010), a Senate companion to House bill (H.R. 1695) will be voted on by…
Legislative Update – 11/30/2018
Federal news Some post-election headlines include focus on news related to health care: With Democrats in control of U.S. House, science panel gets fresh start (Science) Psychiatric nurse-turned politician, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) will chair the House science committee. Nurse Lauren Underwood (D-IL) and pediatrician Kim Schrier (D-WA) are both eyeing seats on one…
Reminder: Deadline to Apply for ALA Policy Corps is Friday, November 16
(via Gwen Gregory, University of Illinois at Chicago) The American Library Association (ALA) invites library advocates to apply online to join the ALA Policy Corps. The deadline for applications is November 16. The Corps initiative aims to strengthen advocacy related to key national library policy areas–ranging from broadband equity and copyright, to federal funding and…
Legislative Update, 11/06/2018
Today is election day! In celebration, a story from Science magazine: The ‘political’ scientists: Dozens of scientists ran for U.S. Congress. On the eve of the general election, 18 are still standing (including representation in the health sciences!)
ALA and ACRL Seek Next Cohort of Policy Corps Members (Deadline 11/16)
(via Gwen Gregory, University of Illinois at Chicago, on behalf of Dr. Kara Malenfant, ACRL) Last year, then-ALA President Jim Neal announced the call for applicants to join the inaugural cohort of the ALA Policy Corps. A dozen advocates (including academic librarians from Northwestern University and Peninsula College) were selected from across the nation to…
Legislative Update, 10/23/2018
Federal The EPA continues to be in the news. During a Senate panel meeting to discuss the “transparency proposal,” which would limit the use of scientific studies in creating regulations to those with publically-available data, a scientist spoke to another provision in the proposal. This provision is to reconsider the assumption that exposure to small…
Legislative Action Item: Support the Reauthorization of IMLS
From our friends at ALA, bills supporting the reauthorization of the IMLS have been introduced in the House and Senate. Please contact your House and Senate representatives to ask for their support of this legislation (H.R. 6988; S. 3530). As reported in American Libraries: “The 2018 act continues to support the stated mission of IMLS…
Legislative Update, 10/03/2018
Federal News: The FY19 appropriations bill for the Department of Health and Human Services, which was approved by the House and Senate on Sept 13, 2018, includes: $2 billion increase in funding for NIH $425 million increase for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias research $100 million increase for cancer research $86 million increase for All…
Legislative Update, 09/07/2018
Federal: Funding for the National Library of Medicine increased by $13.5 million in the FY19 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill, which passed in the Senate on August 23, 2018. A final vote to approve the bill won’t occur until later this year. Read more at the District Dispatch. ALA and the Association of Research Libraries, along with…