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LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY * GOVERNMENT RELATIONS COMMITTEEActivities, 2007
Letter sent from NOCALL to Senator Waxman regarding the Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007.
NOCALL was a signatory to
this letter supporting the OPEN Government Act of 2007.
GRC Report to the NOCALL Board Meeting on February 7, 2007 Prepared January 26, 2007
Susanne Dyer has assumed leadership of our preparations, providing indispensable guidance on what we need to do. She has reserved the Alameda County Law Library’s Conference Center for a web-cast of the Sunshine Week 2007 program. She has also made initial contact with the Sunshine Week California Coordinator, who has promised to help with publicity, inviting a speaker and special guests, and other details. He is:
Paul Gullixson Susanne recommends that we invite a speaker for an informal luncheon discussion. The speaker would "discuss the nuts and bolts of enforcing open meeting laws, obtaining documents under the applicable state and federal freedom of information acts, etc.." We are coordinating this event with the SLA SFBay Region Chapter. Anne Barker, Chair of the SLA Chapter’s GRC, is the Chapter’s liaison. Carolina Rose has generously pledged a donation of $200 on behalf of her firm, Legislative Research, Inc.. As our preparations continue, I wish to commend everyone involved – especially Susanne, Carolina, Anne, and Susan Nevelow Mart – for their exceptional initiative, commitment, and leadership.
On CLA Legislative Day, librarians and their supporters throughout the state meet their state legislators in Sacramento. It provides us a fantastic opportunity to advocate for access to government information and other priorities. We are hoping that at least one GRC representative will be able to attend this event.
This event gives us the opportunity to meet with our state legislators in their local offices. It takes place on January 26th and February 2nd. Deborah Doyle, a member of Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, has scheduled February 2nd appointments with California Senator Carol Migden (10 am) and with Assemblyman Mark Leno (3 pm). I may be able join her for the 10 am appointment with Senator Migden. (I have a January 31st summons for jury duty.) Because this has been a last-minute arrangement, I do not know whether I or another GRC member can attend either meeting. Deborah has asked me to "bring material/talking points." I will seek guidance from Prano, the Board, and GRC members about what issues warrant attention. Susanne Dyer has made helpful suggestions about how to proceed.
In her Daily Journal article on October 24, 2006, Susan Nevelow Mart encouraged her readers to contact their Senators about the closure of EPA libraries and the drastic reduction in services among EPA libraries that remain open. Mary Alice Baish, AALL’s Associate Washington Affairs Representative, recommended that we consider thanking Senator Boxer for her support of EPA libraries. At the time, concerned librarians and others sought to add signatures of other Senators to a letter proposed by Senators Boxer and Lautenberg. In what became the “Boxer-Lautenberg ‘Dear Colleague’” letter, several Senators asked the Senate Appropriations Committee to restore EPA library services while the EPA received public input on its “drastic cut” in library services. Mary Alice also recommended that we engage our sister Chapters in a joint letter to Senators Boxer and Feinstein. On October 31st, Greg Fite shared the recommendation with the GRC. He also shared Susan’s observation that Senator Feinstein should sign the letter. But Senator Feinstein did not sign it. According to a staff assistant at her San Francisco office, Senator Feinstein has still not taken a position on the closure of EPA libraries. I am trying to confirm that she has no position. At any rate, Senator Feinstein is likely to favor restoration of EPA library services. Because Senator Box now chairs the Environment & Public Works Committee, we will draft a letter per Mary Alice’s recommendation. Susan Nevelow Mart believes that she can draft a letter next month. I am not aware that we have an overriding reason for urgency in submitting a joint-chapter letter; however, I have contacted Mary Alice just to make sure that there is none.
David McFadden asked me whether a GRC member might join the Committee once his term expires. He has told me that “there has been a recent tradition to have law librarians who are members of CLA volunteer and be appointed by the incoming CLA President . . .[N]early monthly meetings are in Sacramento except for one meeting held at the CLA Conference in November.” I agree with David that geography makes it (at least) logical for NOCALL to consider a candidate for this position before December 2007. Susanne Dyer offers this additional information about joining the Committee. The volunteer must be a regular CLA member. CLA does not reserve a special slot for a law library representative.* The volunteer must also be prepared to advance CLA’s legislative agenda even if it does not always coincide with that of the law library community. Finally, the volunteer must also be ready for a long term. (Susanne recalls that the term is four years, and so it appears to be, as David’s term began in 2003.) Although this issue does not require immediate attention, it may be useful for Prano, Coral (as President-Elect), and the Board to begin considering whether a GRC (or other NOCALL) member should volunteer. If NOCALL decides to recruit a volunteer, NOCALL would need to defray any travel expenses (and the annual CLA membership fee?), either through the GRC budget or otherwise. Respectfully submitted,
Michael Ginsborg *Perhaps David McFadden was referring to an informal practice of recent CLA Presidents. Susanne may mean that CLA has no rule or formal requirement that the Committee have at least one law librarian.
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Page last updated: February 20, 2008
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