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SUMMARY OF THE
ELECTRONIC PUBLIC INFORMATION NEWSLETTER
VOL. 6, No.8
September 1996
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INDEX:
1.  FEC CHARGES $20 AN HOUR TO ACCESS ITS ELECTORAL DATA
2.  NTIS SUSTAINS HEAVY LOSSES IN ITS CLEARINGHOUSE PROGRAM
3.  PUBLIC PRINTER COMPLETES DRAFT OF CHANGES TO TITLE 44
4.  TAX ANALYSTS URGES DOJ TO RELEASE JURIS IN WEST MERGER

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1. FEC CHARGES $20 AN HOUR TO ACCESS ITS ELECTORAL DATA: The Federal
Elections Commission (FEC) runs two online information services: one free
and the other fee-based. The free Web site offers less information and in
a less timely manner than the $20/hour
 Direct Access Program (DAP). DAP offers daily updated information,
historical data and a search engine capable of answering an array of
queries. The Web site has no historical data, is updated monthly and has
no search engine. In addition, the data canno t be accessed directly, but
must be downloaded to be viewed. DAP is not made available to the
depository libraries. Instead, the FEC sends tapes periodically to the
Consortium at the University of Michigan and allows for the downloading of
raw data from i ts FTP (File Transfer Protocol) site at ftp.fec.gov. A
spokesperson at the Consortium, which includes all the major research
universities in the United States, said the Consortium has FEC data from
1997 to 1992, and that it has no information beyond 1992. Commenting on
DAP, Gary Ruskin, of the Congressional Accountability Project, a Ralph
Nader group, said , "There is no excuse for the FEC to charge $20 an hour
for such important information."

2. NTIS SUSTAINS HEAVY LOSSES IN ITS CLEARINGHOUSE PROGRAM: Although the
National Technical Information Services (NTIS) registered a small surplus
in 1995, its basic program area sustained heavy losses and the average
cost of the direct labor hour increas ed over 1994. According to the
Agency's 1995 annual report, which was published in July, NTIS showed a
surplus of $171,000 as opposed to a surplus of $770,000 in 1994. A large
part of the drop in net earnings can be attributed to the negative
performance of NTIS' Clearinghouse Program, which constitutes 67% of all
the agency's earnings. The annual report shows that the Clearinghouse
program, which includes the sale of all NTIS information products and
FedWorld, the electronic gateway to federal government nformation, lost 
$410,000 in 1995.

3. PUBLIC PRINTER COMPLETES DRAFT OF CHANGES TO TITLE 44: The Public
Printer has prepared a draft of legislation to rewrite the Federal
Depository Library Program (FDLP) to bring it into the era of electronic
and networked information. The suggested chang es to Chapter 19 of Title
44, which governs the operation of the FDLP, were sent to Sen. John W.
Warner, Chairman of the Rules and Administration Committee. A GPO
spokesman said the changes were sent in response to a petition from
Warner's Committee, and that as far as he knew the suggested changes were
not forwarded to the Joint Committee on Printing and the House Oversight
Committee, both of which are working on a comprehensive rewriting of Title
44. The House has given no indication when it will be fin ishing its work
on Title 44 and Congressional observers believe that the Congress will
adjourn before any action is taken in the House on the matter.

4. TAX ANALYSTS URGES DOJ TO RELEASE JURIS IN WEST MERGER: Tax Analysts, a
nonprofit legal publisher based in Arlington, VA, urged the U.S.
Department of Justice (DOJ) to release the nonproprietary case law and
statutes contained in DOJ's JURIS database a s part of the settlement of
its antitrust review of the Thomson Corporation's $3.425 billion
acquisition of West Publishing Co. of Eagan, WI. In comments on DOJ's
proposed final settlement in the antitrust action, Tax Analysts contended
that the proposed settlement is unacceptable without inclusion of a remedy
to address what DOJ itself calls one of the greatest barriers to
competition-the lack of access to past federal case law. However, Tax
Analysts pointed out that the June 12 final settlement reached between
DOJ's Anti-Trust Division, and Thomson and West in no way addresses DOJ's
concern about West's hold on historical case law data. The agreement must
be approved by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before
the merger can be finali zed. The Court is expected to decide the matter
sometime in October.


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James McDonough, Editor
epin@access.digex.net
Tel: 301/365-3621
Fax: 301/365-2782