[mla-nynj] FW: brief legislative update

[Robb Mackes]

Dear Members,

Happy New Year! I would like to share the following message that was
sent by Mary Langman. 

Thanks,
Mahnaz Tehrani
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The President signed the FY 2008 omnibus package at the end of December.
The omnibus package http://www.rules.house.gov/110_fy08_omni.htm
provides funding for 11 appropriations bills, including the Departments
of Labor-Health and Human Services-Education and Related Agencies and
the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, and
retains the provision that makes the NIH public access policy mandatory.
 
Highlights of Division G of the bill
http://www.rules.house.gov/110/text/omni/divg.pdf provide: 

*	$29.23 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an
increase of $328.65 million over FY 2007 and $607.3 million more than
the President's request; 
*	$329 million for the National Library of Medicine, a decrease of
$608 thousand below FY 2007 and $8.4 million more than the President's
request; and 
*	$263.5 million for the Institute of Museum and Library Services,
an increase of $16.3 million over FY 2007 and $7.75 million below the
President's request. 

Section 218 of the bill provides that:
"The Director of the National Institutes of Health shall require that
all investigators funded by the NIH submit or have submitted for them to
the National Library of Medicine's PubMed Central an electronic version
of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts upon acceptance for
publication, to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after
the official date of publication: Provided, That the NIH shall implement
the public access policy in a manner consistent with copyright law."  

Division F of the omnibus bill
http://www.rules.house.gov/110/text/omni/divf.pdf provides $3 million in
funding for restoration of the EPA libraries recently closed or
consolidated by the Administration and directs the Agency to submit a
report to the Committees on Appropriations regarding actions it will
take to restore publicly available libraries to provide environmental
information and data to each EPA region within 90 days of enactment of
this Act.

Mary M. Langman, Coordinator
Information Issues and Policy
Medical Library Association
65 E. Wacker Pl., Ste. 1900
Chicago, Illinois 60601-7246

ph  312/419-9094, ext. 27
fax  312/419-8950
mlaedo2 at mlahq.org