Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 227 / Friday, November 24, 2000 / Notices 70625

Signed at Washington, D.C., this 20th day

of November, 2000.

Ivan Strasfeld,

Director of Exemption Determinations,

Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration,

Department of Labor.

[FR Doc. 00–29971 Filed 11–22–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4510–29–P

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Pension and Welfare Benefits

Administration

[Exemption Application D–10608 and D–

10609]

Withdrawal of Notice of Proposed

Exemption Involving the Millcraft

Industries Salaried Employees’

Pension Plan and the Millcraft

Products, Inc. Hourly Employees’

Pension Plan (collectively, the Plans);

Located in Canonsburg, PA

In the Federal Register dated October

6, 1998 (63 FR 53720), the Department

of Labor (the Department) published a

notice of proposed exemption from the

prohibited transaction restrictions of the

Employee Retirement Income Security

Act of 1974 and from certain taxes

imposed by the Internal Revenue Code

of 1986. The notice of proposed

exemption, for which retroactive relief

had been requested, concerned three

cash sales by the Plans of certain third

party common stock to Millcraft

Industries, Inc., (Millcraft), the sponsor

of the Plans and a party in interest.

By letter dated November 3, 2000,

Millcraft, its wholly owned subsidiary,

Millcraft, Products, Inc., and the

trustees of the Plans, informed the

Department that they wished to

withdraw the notice of proposed

exemption.

Accordingly the notice of proposed

exemption is hereby withdrawn.

Signed at Washington, D.C., this 20th day

of November, 2000.

Ivan L. Strasfeld,

Director of Exemption Determinations,

Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration,

Department of Labor.

[FR Doc. 00–29972 Filed 11–22–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4510–29–P

NATIONAL COMMISSION ON

LIBRARIES AND INFORMATION

SCIENCE

Public Meeting

Date, Time, and Place: Monday,

December 4, 2000 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00

p.m., 342 Dirksen Senate Office

Building, First Street and Constitution

Avenue, NE., Washington, DC.

Matter To Be Discussed: The public is

invited to comment on the proposed

recommendations of the National

Commission on Libraries and

Information Science (NCLIS) resulting

from the comprehensive assessment of

public information dissemination

policies and practices. Information

about the assessment is available on the

Commission website at http://

www.nclis.gov/govt/assess/assess.html.

The Commission’s final report to

Congress must be completed by

December 15, 2000.

Written comments must be received

not later than 9 a.m. Monday, December

11, 2000. Comments may be submitted

to the Commission by mail at 1110

Vermont Avenue, NW., Washington, DC

20005–3552, Attn: F. Woody Horton,

Ph.D., by fax to 202–606–9203, or by email to whorton@nclis.gov.

Individuals and organizations

desiring to participate in the public

meeting should contact NCLIS Deputy

Director Judith C. Russell by fax at 202–

606–9203 or by e-mail to

jrussell@nclis.gov, identifying the

speaker and the organization(s)

represented by the speaker. Each

speaker should bring at least thirty

copies of their statement to the meeting

as well as providing an electronic copy

to the Commission, preferably by e-mail

to jrussell@nclis.gov. Oral presentations

will be limited to five minutes. There

will be an opportunity to respond to

questions from the Commission, and if

time permits, there will be an

opportunity for further comments from

the audience once all scheduled

speakers have made their presentations.

The Commission will select speakers

to represent the widest possible range of

organizations and points of view in the

available time. The Commission is

particularly interested in hearing from

end users of government information,

such as students from elementary school

through graduate school, senior citizens,

individuals with disabilities,

individuals from rural communities,

individuals who are economically

disadvantaged, researchers, employees

of state, local or tribal governments, and

small business owners. Other speakers

are also welcome, including

intermediaries who assist users with

government information, such as

librarians, information specialists and

value-added providers, and

representatives of Federal agency

information dissemination programs.

Background

The assessment was initiated by

NCLIS at the request of Senator John

McCain, Chairman, Senate Committee

on Commerce, Science, and

Transportation and Senator Joseph

Lieberman, Ranking Minority Member,

Senate Committee on Governmental

Affairs. The Commission was asked to

identify reforms necessary in the federal

government’s public information

dissemination policies and practices.

The Commission’s proposed strategic

recommendations were presented at the

Commission meeting on November 15,

2000. As a result of that meeting, the

Commission decided to hold a public

meeting on the December 4th to provide

for additional public comment.

In this report the Commission states

that the Federal government’s public

information is a critical national

resource that must be exploited to the

fullest extent possible. The Commission

contends that public information

resources are no less important to the

nation’s economic and social livelihood

than are its human, financial, capital,

and natural resources. However,

exploiting the full potential benefits and

values of this resource has not been

given top-level national focus, attention,

and support.

The Commission believes that there is

a missing building block in the nation’s

public information statutory foundation.

A new law is needed, not only to put

in place the concept of treating public

information as a strategic national asset,

but also to make clear the obligation of

all government agencies with respect to

their public information resources. To

that end, every mission agency’s

authorizing legislation should have a

standard clause mandating the

dissemination of information to the

public, and agencies should directly

budget for the cost of implementing that

recommendation in their annual

budgets.

Diffusing the government’s public

information resources proactively,

broadly, and pervasively throughout all

sectors of the economy and the society,

for the benefit of all Americans, is a

positive, social and moral construct

which must be crafted in crystal clear

terms in new legislation which spells

out both agency obligations and overall

national policy leadership and oversight

needs.

The complete draft report should be

available on the Commission website by

Monday, November 27, 2000. A draft

Executive Summary of the final report is

available at http://www.nclis.gov/govt/

assess/execsum.pdf.

The proposed legislation should be

read and evaluated in the context of the

strategic recommendations in the

Commission’s draft report. The purpose

of the proposed legislation is to bring