Summary of Electronic Public Information Newsletter

Index

Volume 3 Number 19 1993

Section SA125 0319

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     SUMMARY OF ELECTRONIC PUBLIC INFORMATION NEWSLETTER
                  VOL. 3, NO. 19; October 8, 1993
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INDEX:

1. JUSTICE TO SHUT DOWN JURIS DATABASE
2. ELECTRONIC INFORMATION IN THE HINTERLAND
3. REP. KLUG MOVES TO RADICALLY DOWNSIZE GPO
4. INTERVIEW: ELIOT CHRISTIAN ON LOCATORS
5. THE CLINTON FOIA MEMORANDUM


1. JUSTICE TO SHUT DOWN THE JURIS DATABASE: The Department of
Justice intends to shut down its JURIS database as of January 1,
1994, according to Roger Cooper, Deputy Assistant Attorney General
for Information Resources Management. The decision was taken after
the WEST Publishing Company (WEST) of Eagan, MN, informed the
Department it had no intention of rebidding the licensing of its
caselaw database to JURIS. Cooper explained that the WEST database
on federal caselaw constitutes "80% of JURIS," and that it makes
little sense to continue operating JURIS without it. The JURIS
database is the world's largest collection of federal legal
information. In a statement (9/30), Jerrol M. Tostrud, WEST
Executive Vice President, said WEST hopes to maintain its
relationship with the Justice Department, providing an even better
array of services through the company's WESTLAW online
computer-assisted legal research service. He said WEST's decision
not to renew the JURIS contract is consistent with the Clinton
Administration's goal of "re-inventing, re-thinking and re-doing
government."  Cooper stated that WEST pulled out when the Justice
Department, at the prodding of public interest groups such as the
Taxpayers Asset Project (TAP) and the American Association of Law
Libraries, queried WEST on its willingness to make its database
available to public access. "We asked them if they would be
interested in putting their database up for public access and they
said no. I think the specter of the public being able to get at
their database at reduced rates or any other way just scared the
heck out of them," Cooper said. TAP Director James P. Love decried
the decision to shut down JURIS, and urged the Justice Department
to create its own federal caselaw database.


2. ELECTRONIC INFORMATION IN THE HINTERLAND: William A. Mitchell,
director of the Missouri Research and Education Network, last week
reminded federal officials just what dissemination of government
information can mean to the American people. Speaking in Washington
at a meeting of Americans Communicating Electronically (ACE)--an
ad-hoc group of federal information officials favoring interactive
communication and the dissemination of government information--
Mitchell told of a 6th grade teacher in Columbia, Missouri, who
downloaded an online version of the Clinton Administration's health
plan the day after it was released in Washington for discussion
with her students. He said her class was reviewing the report's
text, when not a single printed copy of the report had yet reached
Missouri. The Clinton health plan is available over the internet
via the Almanac server administered by the Extension Service of the
Department of Agriculture. "People are hungry for government
information. Money is so short for information materials at the
state level that you can't put up enough (federal) information,"
Mitchell told the group.

3. HOUSE RESOLUTION INTRODUCED TO DOWNSIZE THE GPO: In the interest
of deficit reduction, Rep. Scott Klug, R-WI, introduced (9/30) a
House resolution (H.Res. 266) to radically downsize the Government
Printing Office (GPO). The resolution would require the House
Appropriations Committee to submit legislation to meet the
resolution's goal. A spokesperson from Klug's office said the GPO
resolution was one of many avenues the congressman is promoting for
the purpose of cutting the deficit by trimming the federal
government. Klug's resolution would:
**1) Redirect responsibility for executive printing back to the
executive branch, while maintaining legislative branch oversight
authority;
**2) Reduce the GPO workforce to 500 employees from its present
count of some 4,700 by contracting most of its printing to the
private sector;
**3) Combine the Joint Committee on Printing and the Joint
Committee on the Library into the Joint Committee on Information,
and
**4) Transfer the functions of GPO's Superintendent of
Documents=FEincluding the Depository Library Program=FEto the Librarian
of Congress, who would be responsible for the dissemination of all
online government information.

4. OMB MOVES AHEAD WITH THE DEPLOYMENT OF A GOVERNMENT INFORMATION
LOCATOR SYSTEM: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is
pushing ahead to implement a networked-based government information
locator system (GILS) utilizing the Z39.50 protocol. The effort is
being spearheaded by Eliot Christian, Chief of the Office of
Management Services of the Information Systems Division, U.S.
Geological Survey, currently assigned to OMB. Christian is also
coordinating his work with the National Information Infrastructure
Task Force's (NIITF) Government Information Working Group. In an
interview last week at OMB, Christian described his job as selling
the networked-based information locator concept to the various
departments and agencies of the federal government, including both
its legislative and judicial branches. In his talks with the
federal agencies, Christian is urging the use of WAIS (Wide Area
Information Server) public domain software (which utilizes the
Z39.50 protocol) as the tool to build an inexpensive and flexible
network locator. He said that more than 25 agencies have expressed
an interest in a WAIS-based GILS.=20

5. CLINTON URGES AGENCIES TO BE RESPONSIVE TO FOIA: President
Clinton last week (10/4) issued a memorandum on the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA), where he urged the federal agencies to be
more responsive to FOIA requests by the public. At the same time,
he emphasized his commitment to promoting the dissemination of
government information. Clinton stated, "I remind agencies that our
commitment to openness requires more than merely responding to
requests from the public. Each agency has a responsibility to
distribute information on its own initiative, and to enhance public
access through the use of electronic information systems. Taking
these steps will ensure compliance with both the letter and spirit
of the Act (FOIA)." At the same time, Attorney General Janet Reno
issued an accompanying memorandum indicating that the Department of
Justice will no longer "defend an agency's withholding of
information merely because there is a `substantial legal basis' for
doing so. Rather, in determining whether or not to defend a
nondisclosure decision, we will apply a `presumption of
disclosure'." At the same time, Reno rescinded the Department of
Justice's 1981, Reagan-era, guidelines for the defense of agency
action in Freedom of Information Act litigation.=20

James McDonough
Electronic Public Information Newsletter
epin@access.digex.com

Submitted by: ANDREW WILLIAMSON  (cijs26@vaxb.strathclyde.ac.uk)
               Fri, 15 Oct 93 11:54 GMT