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GA#14;-Federal-legislative-inf
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GovAccess#14: Federal legislative info (fee? free?) + net white-pages
Feb.14, 1994
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin, ~1784
[from signature-msg of Jerry Berman, Exec.Dir, Electronic Frontier Found'n]
===
I just received notification that I am to be one of the recipients of the
James Madison Freedom-of-Information Awards from the Society of Professional
Journalists of Northern California. Wow! Geee! Neat stuff! (Groovy ?! :-)
Unrelated: I plan to send along a summary-list of what was covered in the
previous GovAccess postings, "real soon now." (Only 170 emsgs left to go ...)
--jim
===
BIG BUX FOR ACCESS TO FEDERAL INFORMATION
From broseman@igc.apc.org Sat Feb 12 05:46:55 1994 [reformatted -jim]
From: Barry D Roseman <broseman@igc.apc.org>
Subject: Fed. legis. info online (for $$$$$)
Dear Jim,
I thought I'd pass some information along to you about how
outrageously expensive it is now to obtain online information
about federal legislative and regulatory actions. Feel free to
disseminate this at will.
A representative of LEGI-SLATE, "The Washington Post Company's
Information Subsidiary," met with me this week to try to sell me,
and the national organization of which I am an officer, on its
services. What is important is that LEGI-SLATE is reselling
information it acquires (probably purchases) from the Government
Printing Office. At least once a day, LEGI-SLATE picks up a
magnetic tape from the GPO's offices, which are conveniently
located just across the street from its offices, and loads that
tape into its own computer system.
LEGI-SLATE sells this public information not only to private
users, but also to the Government! The subscribers include, I am
told, Senatorial and House offices and the Library of Congress.
That means that our Representatives and Senators are paying LEGI-
SLATE's exorbitant rates to obtain information that they could,
and should, get from the GPO for free.
Of course, ordinary folk have to pay through the nose to get the
same information online. Lobbyists and the organizations which
employ them are the primary market for LEGI-SLATE. They can
afford to pay thousands of dollars each year to get this
information. The rest of us have to sit on the sidewalk,
watching the parade go by.
Here is what LEGI-SLATE offers, and what it costs:
It offers a "Congressional Service," providing, in searchable
format, the status of bills and legislative histories, committee
meeting schedules, tracking of cosponsors, recorded votes, a "Hot
Bill" feature and a "Quick Bill" feature (described in more
detail below). This package costs $6,900 per year. This rate, I
should add, includes free local access via TYMNET.
Additional add-on features are as follows (annual charges):
$2,000: The text of pending bills, in searchable format
$1,000: Markup reports (prepared by LEGI-SLATE employees,
summarizing committee votes and amendments)
$1,000: The text of the Congressional Record
$1,000: The text of committee reports
$1,000: Bill "overviews and outlooks" (short summaries prepared
LEGI-SLATE employees)
$1,000: Online articles from The Washington Post, the National
Journal, the Hill News (a LEGI-SLATE publication), and
an index to Congressional Quarterly's Weekly Report
$1,000: A roster of House and Senate members, a listing of
committee assignments, voting attendance, the text of
the Almanac of American Politics, and interest group ratings
$1,000: A compilation of votes and a voting analysis
$ 500: Bill digests and bill analyses, prepared by the staff of
the Congressional Research Service (CRS) at the Library
of Congress
$ 500: An online version of the Congressional Staff Directory
$ 500: A listing of which zip codes are in which Congressional districts
$ 500: A feature to facilitate the generation of mailing lists
to Senators and Representatives
One can get a pared-down version of the "Congressional Service"
for $1,900 per year. This "Quick Bill Service" includes a "Hot
Bills" feature, which consists of a listing of bills that are
getting a lot of Congressional or media attention at the moment;
and a "Quick Bill" feature. The latter provides a synopsis for
each bill, consisting of its title, its sponsor, a narrative
description, committee referrals, committee schedules, major
actions on the bill, the bill's legislative history, companion
bills, a listing of laws it would amend or repeal, and recorded
votes on the bill. It also provides cross-references to remarks
about the bill in the Congressional Record, to committee reports,
to bill text versions available, and to articles in the
publications listed above.
If one purchases the Quick Bill option, one can get some of the
same add-ons described above. The only price difference is for
the bill text. That costs "only" $1,000 in this package, since
it is not searchable. For $5,900 per year, one can buy a package
of these services (consisting of the Quick Bill Service, the bill
text, the markup reports, the text of the Congressional Reocrd,
the text of committee reports, bill overviews and outlooks, news
about each bill in the four publications mentioned above, news
about each bill in the online news sevices produced by the Bureau
of National Affairs, and the CRS bill bill digests and
abstracts). A compilation of information about each Senator and
Representative costs an additional $1,000 per year.
LEGI-SLATE also sells the text of the United States Code (the
federal statutes). One can buy online access to one title (e.g.,
the one containing the Internal Revenue Code) for $1,000 per year
and can pay $500 per year for each additional title; or can pay
$4,900 per year for online access to all 50 titles.
One can get online access to the Federal Register, another GPO
publication, for $1,900 per year. Federal regulations are
collected in the Code of Federal Regulations (also published by
guess who). LEGI-SLATE offers online access to the CFR of $2,000
per year for the first title and $1,000 per year for each
additional title; or $9,900 per year for all 50 titles.
I don't dispute LEGI-SLATE's right to charge for these service.
It does provide some value-added services, including the indexing
and cross-referencing of this information. My point is that most
of this is *public* information, which can and should be made
available through the Internet. If a person wanted to pay extra
for the indexing and cross-referencing, that would be his or her
prerogative. Public information should be made available, at
reasonable cost, to the public, not just to those with thick
wallets.
--Barry Roseman
===
OR MAYBE LEGI-SLATE IS FREE? (Naaaah! ??)
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 94 13:03:40 EST
From: Legislate ID <aeh@merit.edu>
Subject: New Gopher Service
LEGI-SLATE Gopher Service
Now on the Internet
Legi-Slate, Inc. is please to announce its new LEGI-SLATE Gopher Service
available on the Internet. The current version is a prototype for a complete,
dynamically updated LEGI-SLATE Gopher Service scheduled for release July 1,
1994. The prototype contains information about sample bills and resolutions
from the current Congress and "Federal Register" documents from 1993.
To access the LEGI-SLATE Gopher Service:
GOPHER to MUDHONEY.MICRO.UMN.EDU 7000
or
TELNET to CONSULTANT.MICRO.UMN.EDU
(Other Gophers / North America / USA / Washington, D.C.)
Please send comments and questions to:
LEGISLATE@MUDHONEY.MICRO.UMN.EDU
LEGI-SLATE is the original and leading online service
covering Congress and Federal Regulations.
777 North Capitol Street, Washington, D.C. 20002
(202) 898-2300 1-800-733-1131 Fax (202) 898-3030
===
FIND YOURSELF -- NETWORK "WHITE PAGES"
From: Susan Estrada <sestrada@aldea.com>
Subject: NetPages .. Feel Free to Forward as Appropriate
Aldea Communications wants to help people find each other on the Internet,
so the concept of NetPages(tm) was developed. NetPages is an Internet
email address directory based on the "phone book" concept with white and
yellow pages. It will be published twice a year, with the first edition
coming out in March, 1994. The first edition will be distributed in
hard-copy at UNIFORUM and electronically for downloading on the Internet.
You may make a white pages listing free of charge. All information is
optional. Your listing will be sent to you prior to the compilation of the
directory for verification. Yellow pages listings are available in the
NetPages for those of you with more information to deliver. Contact us for
pricing.
If you have any questions or comments, write to netpages@aldea.com or call
1-800-TO ALDEA (619-943-0101). All listees will be notified of the
electronic Internet "pickup" spot in March.
To add your name to the directory simply return this completed template to
netpages@aldea.com. We need your entry by February 21 to meet the printing
deadline.
Your name:
Your email address:
Business or personal account:
Company name:
Your title:
City:
State, Country:
Aldea Communications, Inc.
info@aldea.com
1-800-To-Aldea
1-619-943-0101
NetPages (tm) - The Internet Directory
===
Mo' as it Is.
--jim
Jim Warren, columnist for MicroTimes, Government Technology, BoardWatch, etc.
345 Swett Rd., Woodside CA 94062; voice/415-851-7075; fax/415-851-2814
**To join or drop from the GovAccess list, email to jwarren@well.sf.ca.us.**
>>Permission herewith granted for unlimited reposting and recirculation.<<