[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 157 (Sunday, November 9, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12416-S12417]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




MUSEUM AND LIBRARY SERVICES TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS OF 1997

  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the consideration of S. 1505, introduced earlier today by 
Senator Jeffords.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk 
will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 1505) to make technical and conforming 
     amendments to the Museum and Library Services Act, and for 
     other purposes.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the immediate 
consideration of the bill?
  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, may I call upon my colleague, the esteemed 
Chairman of the Committee on Labor and Human Resources, to clarify a 
matter that is addressed in the bill to provide technical amendments to 
the Museum and Library Services Act?
  Mr. JEFFORDS. I am pleased to answer any question that the Senator 
from Hawaii may have.
  Mr. INOUYE. Under the provisions of the Library Services and 
Construction Act, Public Law 98-480, Native Hawaiian organizations are 
authorized to provide library services to Native Hawaiians. One of our 
most exemplary Federal grantees, Alu Like, Inc., has been administering 
the Native Hawaiian Library Project since 1985.
  Native Hawaiian children in the State's public school system start 
school well behind other students when it comes to crucial vocabulary 
skills. Hawaiian children enter kindergarten with lower vocabulary 
scores than other children (12th percentile: Peabody Picture Vocabulary 
Test--Revised, 1989), and in achievement tests of basic skills, 
Hawaiian students continue to perform below national norms and other 
groups in Hawaii. On the Reading Comprehension Subtest of the Stanford 
Achievement Test administered by the Hawaii State Department of 
Education in the spring of 1990, Hawaiian eighth grade students scored 
at the 18th percentile, the lowest of the four principal ethnic groups 
in Hawaii. A recent study in Hawaii by the Governor's Council for 
Literacy shows that Native Hawaiian adults have low literacy rates, 
with 30 percent at the lowest level compared with 19 percent of adults 
statewide.
  It is these statistics, and the need to assure that parents have 
reading skills sufficient to foster learning and reading skills in 
their preschool and school-age children, that the Native Hawaiian 
Library Project has sought to address. This has been made possible 
because of the federal resources that have been made available under 
the Library Services and Construction Act. The initial funding for this 
program was $590,123 and 1985, and because of the program's documented 
effectiveness, it has been funded each year thereafter for a total of 
$7,223,297. Funding in the past fiscal year was $635,025.

  It is my understanding that in enacting the Museum and Library 
Services Act, the Congress sought to extend the authority for the 
library services programs that have proven to be so effective in 
enriching the reading and vocabulary skills of Americans of all ages. 
In our State, it has enabled Native Hawaiian children to begin to 
perform on a par with other students, it has effected a reduction in 
the drop-out rates of Native Hawaiian students and demonstrated a 
marked improvement in their performance on achievement tests, and has 
enabled adults with new literacy skills to secure employment.
  It is because of the importance of this program to the Native 
Hawaiian people of our State that I seek your clarification that the 
bill to provide technical and conforming amendments to the Museum and 
Library Services Act, specifically section 6 of that measure, is 
intended simply to maintain the status quo relative to the federal 
support for Native Hawaiian library services by extending the authority 
for grants to Native Hawaiian organizations for this purpose.
  Mr. JEFFORDS. The Senator from Hawaii is correct in his reading of 
the

[[Page S12417]]

bill. It is our intent to assure that .25 percent of appropriated funds 
are reserved to provide services to Hawaiian Natives. This authority 
did exist under the Library Services and Construction Act.
  Mr. INOUYE. I thank the chairman of the Labor and Human Resources 
Committee for this clarification and urge my colleagues to support this 
measure.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be 
deemed read a third time and passed; that the motion to reconsider be 
laid upon the table; and that any statements relating to the bill 
appear at the appropriate place in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (S. 1505) was deemed read the third time and passed, as 
follows:

                                S. 1505

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Museum and Library Services 
     Technical and Conforming Amendments of 1997''.

     SEC. 2. APPOINTMENT OF EMPLOYEES.

       Section 206 of the Museum and Library Services Act (20 
     U.S.C. 9105 et seq.) is amended--
       (1) by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection (c); and
       (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the following:
       ``(b) Appointment and Compensation of Technical and 
     Professional Employees.--
       ``(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), the Director 
     may appoint without regard to the provisions of title 5, 
     United States Code, governing the appointment in the 
     competitive service and may compensate without regard to the 
     provisions of chapter 51 or subchapter III of chapter 53 of 
     such title (relating to the classification and General 
     Schedule pay rates), such technical and professional 
     employees as the Director determines to be necessary to carry 
     out the duties of the Institute.
       ``(2) Number and compensation.--The number of employees 
     appointed and compensated under paragraph (1) shall not 
     exceed \1/5\ of the number of full-time regular or 
     professional employees of the Institute. The rate of basic 
     compensation for the employees appointed and compensated 
     under paragraph (1) may not exceed the rate prescribed for 
     level GS-15 of the General Schedule under section 5332 of 
     title 5.''.

     SEC. 3. SPECIAL LIBRARIES.

       Section 213(2)(E) of the Museum and Library Services Act 
     (20 U.S.C. 9122(2)(E)) is amended--
       (1) by inserting ``or other special library'' after ``a 
     private library''; and
       (2) by inserting ``or special'' after ``such private''.

     SEC. 4. RESERVATIONS.

       Section 221(a)(1) of the Museum and Library Services Act 
     (20 U.S.C. 9131(a)(1)) is amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``1\1/2\ percent'' and 
     inserting ``1.75 percent''; and
       (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``4 percent'' and 
     inserting ``3.75 percent''.

     SEC. 5. MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.

       The second sentence of section 223(c)(1)(A)(i) of the 
     Museum and Library Services Act (20 U.S.C. 9133(c)(1)(A)(i)) 
     is amended to read as follows: ``The amount of the reduction 
     in the allotment for any fiscal year shall be equal to the 
     allotment multiplied by a fraction--

       ``(I) the numerator of which is the result obtained by 
     subtracting the level of such State expenditures for the 
     fiscal year for which the determination is made, from the 
     average of the total level of such State expenditures for the 
     3 fiscal years preceding the fiscal year for which the 
     determination is made; and
       ``(II) the denominator of which is the average of the total 
     level of such State expenditures for the 3 fiscal years 
     preceding the fiscal year for which the determination is 
     made.''.

     SEC. 6. SERVICE TO INDIAN TRIBES.

       Section 261 of the Museum and Library Services Act (20 
     U.S.C. 9161) is amended--
       (1) in the section heading, by striking ``INDIAN TRIBES'' 
     and inserting ``NATIVE AMERICANS''; and
       (2) by striking ``to organizations'' and all that follows 
     through ``such organizations'' and inserting ``to Indian 
     tribes and to organizations that primarily serve and 
     represent Native Hawaiians (as the term is defined in section 
     9212 of the Native Hawaiian Education Act (20 U.S.C. 7912) to 
     enable such tribes and organizations''.

     SEC. 7. NATIONAL LEADERSHIP GRANTS OR CONTRACTS.

       Section 262 of the Museum and Library Services Act (20 
     U.S.C. 9162) is amended--
       (1) in the section heading, by striking ``NATIONAL 
     LEADERSHIP GRANTS OR CONTRACTS'' and inserting ``NATIONAL 
     LEADERSHIP GRANTS, CONTRACTS, OR COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS'';
       (2) in subsection (a)--
       (A) by striking ``program awarding national leadership 
     grants or contracts'' and inserting ``program of awarding 
     grants or entering into contracts or cooperative 
     agreements''; and
       (B) by striking ``Such grants or contracts'' and inserting 
     ``Such grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements'';
       (3) in subsection (b)--
       (A) in the section heading, by striking ``(b) Grants or 
     Contracts'' and inserting ``(b) Grants, Contracts, or 
     Cooperative Agreements;'' and
       (B) in paragraph (1), by inserting ``or cooperative 
     agreements,'' after ``contracts''; and
       (C) in paragraph (2), by striking ``Grants and contracts'' 
     and inserting ``Grants, contracts, and cooperative 
     agreements''.

     SEC. 8. CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERROR.

       Section 262(a)(3) of the Museum and Library Services Act 
     (20 U.S.C. 9162(a)(3)) is amended by striking ``preservation 
     of digitization'' and inserting ``preserving or 
     digitization''.

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