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!)
Author: Kirstin Duffin
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, 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…
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, 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, 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…
Legislative Action Item: Save Net Neutrality, Round 2!
Following the FCC’s vote to repeal net neutrality, what’s next? Even though Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is one of 17 State Attorneys General appealing the decision, your voice matters, too. Speak with your congressional representatives preceding their review of the vote. Contact information and a sample script are available at 5calls.org.