FCC Rules E-rate Compliance
Must Begin in Year Four
The Federal Communications Commission ruled April 5 that e-rate recipients must comply with the Children’s Internet Protection Act in year four of the program, which begins July 1. The American Library Association and others had argued that since schools and libraries have already submitted their funding requests for year four, implementation of the law should begin with year five.
The implementation regulations state, “Schools and libraries for which entities knowingly fail to submit certifications pursuant to CIPA are not eligible for discount services.” The ruling adds that recipients who fail to comply must reimburse funds they receive for the period they were out of compliance.
The agency also agreed with the view that CIPA makes no distinction between computers used only by staff and those accessible to the public. However, it ruled that libraries that have already had a public hearing on Internet safety do not need to hold another to be in compliance with that part of the law.
The FCC refused to take into account legal challenges to CIPA, noting that “administrative agencies are to presume that the statutes that Congress directs them to implement are constitutional.”
ALA strongly criticized the FCC’s findings. “This strict regulatory interpretation of CIPA by the FCC for funding year four will force libraries in economically disadvantaged urban and rural areas to use their already scarce resources to install expensive and unreliable filtering software—or be stripped of important financial assistance,” said ALA Washington Office Executive Director Emily Sheketoff.
Posted April 9, 2001.
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