Federal:
This week the Senate voted to pass CISA, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (S. 754), by a vote of 74 to 21. ALA has opposed most forms of CISA since its inception and released a statement by President Sari Feldman after it passed in the Senate on Tuesday:
“CISA won’t prevent cyberattacks like the Office of Personnel Management breach and other high-profile incidents cited by its sponsors. It will, however, weaken the privacy of millions of Americans and expose library and other computer systems to potentially damaging ‘defensive measures.’ Sadly, with CISA, Congress has again traded civil liberty for a mirage of security.”
To become law, the bill will need to be reapproved by both chambers of Congress and signed by the President. Further action is not anticipated until late this year or early 2016. For more information, see the District Dispatch.
State:
No movement on the Illinois budget; both the House and Senate are scheduled to be back again on November 20. In the meantime, the University of Illinois released the findings of an recent economic impact study. The results demonstrate that the University of Illinois system “contributes $13.9 billion in annual income to the state’s economy, and a 19.3 percent return on the public’s investment, through spending by its campuses, employees and students and the increased earning power of its graduates.” This will undoubtedly provide ammunition in the fight for higher education funding as part of the budget struggles.