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…
Category: Legislation
For news about legislative activity relevant to librarianship. Not for news about or from the HSLI Legislative Committee.
Legislative Update, 08/17/2018
Federal: More information on the ECRI-backed National Guideline Clearinghouse, including financial forecasting, has been posted by MLA. Read more from MLA News. Toxic substance regulation will change if the EPA moves forward with a plan to rely more on industry-backed research than academic studies on asbestos and other toxic chemicals. Read the full story from…
Legislative Update, 07/20/2018
Federal: Appropriations Committees for both the House and Senate have approved level funding for libraries through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA; $186.3 million) and the Innovative Approaches to Literacy program (IAL; $27 million) for FY19. Committees in the House and Senate also approved an increase to NIH funding for FY19 (by $1.25 billion…
Legislative Update 06/06/18
Federal: The EPA’s Science Advisory Board voted on May 31, 2018 to review two recent proposals by EPA administrator Scott Pruitt: (1) to require that only publicly-available data be used to make environmental regulations, and (2) to repeal the Obama-era Clean Power Plan. Since public health data are often restricted to protect patient privacy, there…
Legislative Update, 05/24/2018
Federal: MLA and AAHSL oppose the EPA’s Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science rule. Read the statement they submitted to the EPA. If the EPA rule is instated, loss of information including important datasets on the health impacts of lead may result. The repeal of net neutrality is slated to go into effect June 11, 2018….
Legislative Update 05/04/2018
Federal: 1) Take action in National Library Legislative Day from home, if you’re not traveling to D.C. for the event next week. Here are the priorities this year: House & Senate: Reauthorize the Museum and Library Services Act (S. 2271) House & Senate: Fully Fund LSTA and IAL for FY 2019 House & Senate: Visit…
Legislative Update 04/13/2018
Federal: Congressional Research Service reports, prepared for members and committees of Congress, will soon be available on a free public website within 90 days of creation. Prior to the FY18 omnibus appropriations bill that was signed into law on March 23, 2018, the CRS was not mandated to make this publicly-funded research openly available, although…
Legislative Update, 03/27/2018
Federal: Congress passed an appropriations bill for FY18! What does this mean for medical libraries? – NIH will receive $37 billion, an 8.8% increase from FY17 funding. – NLM will receive $428.5 million, an increase of 5% from FY17 levels. – The IMLS will receive $240 million, up 3.9% from FY17. Read more from the…
Legislative Action Item: Support Federal Library Funding
Are your advocacy voices feeling hoarse yet? Gear up for more communications with your legislators! The Trump administration’s proposed FY19 budget yet again includes the elimination of federal funding for libraries. Send feedback to your congressional representatives via ALA or the 5 Calls website. March 19, 2018 is the deadline for legislators to sign their…
Legislative Update, 01/29/2018
Federal: The Museum and Library Services Act of 2017 (S. 2271) would reauthorize the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The IMLS administers funding for libraries via the Library Services Technology Act. MLA and ALA are asking their members to contact their senators and ask them to be a co-sponsor of this bill. Preparing to attend a legislative meet-up? Use…