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107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1803

To provide for public library construction and technology enhancement.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 10, 2001

Mr. HINCHEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To provide for public library construction and technology

enhancement.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Andrew Carnegie Li5 braries for Lifelong Learning Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. PUBLIC LIBRARY CONSTRUCTION AND TECH7 NOLOGY ENHANCEMENT.

8 The Library Services and Technology Act (20 U.S.C.

9 9121 et seq.) is amended—

10 (1) by redesignating chapter 3 as chapter 4;

11 and
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1 (2) by inserting after chapter 2 the following:

2 ‘‘CHAPTER 3—PUBLIC LIBRARY CON3 STRUCTION AND TECHNOLOGY EN4 HANCEMENT

5 ‘‘SEC. 241. GRANTS TO STATES FOR PUBLIC LIBRARY CON6 STRUCTION AND TECHNOLOGY ENHANCE7 MENT.

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—From amounts appropriated

9 under section 244 the Director shall carry out a program

10 of awarding grants to States that have a State plan ap11 proved under section 224 for the construction or tech12 nology enhancement of public libraries.

13 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this chapter:

14 ‘‘(1) CONSTRUCTION.—

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘construc16 tion’ means—

17 ‘‘(i) construction of new buildings;

18 ‘‘(ii) the acquisition, expansion, re19 modeling, and alteration of existing build20 ings;

21 ‘‘(iii) the purchase, lease, and installa22 tion of equipment for any new or existing

23 buildings; or

24 ‘‘(iv) any combination of the activities

25 described in clauses (i) through (iii), in-
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1 cluding architect’ fees and the cost of ac2 quisition of land.

3 ‘‘(B) SPECIAL RULE.—Such term includes

4 remodeling to meet standards under the Act en5 titled ‘An Act to insure that certain buildings

6 financed with Federal funds are so designed

7 and constructed as to be accessible to the phys8 ically handicapped’, approved August 12, 1968

9 (42 U.S.C. 4151 et seq.), commonly known as

10 the ‘Architectural Barriers Act of 1968’, remod11 eling designed to ensure safe working environ12 ments and to conserve energy, renovation or re13 modeling to accommodate new technologies, and

14 the purchase of historic buildings for conversion

15 to public libraries.

16 ‘‘(2) EQUIPMENT.—The term ‘equipment’

17 means—

18 ‘‘(A) information and building tech19 nologies, video and telecommunications equip20 ment, machinery, utilities, built-in equipment,

21 and any necessary enclosures or structures to

22 house the technologies, equipment, machinery

23 or utilities; and
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1 ‘‘(B) all other items necessary for the

2 functioning of a particular facility as a facility

3 for the provision of library services.

4 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC LIBRARY.—The term ‘public li5 brary’ means a library that serves free of charge all

6 residents of a community, district, or region, and re7 ceives its financial support in whole or in part from

8 public funds. Such term also includes a research li9 brary, which, for the purposes of this sentence,

10 means a library, which—

11 ‘‘(A) makes its services available to the

12 public free of charge;

13 ‘‘(B) has extensive collections of books,

14 manuscripts, and other materials suitable for

15 scholarly research which are not available to the

16 public through public libraries;

17 ‘‘(C) engages in the dissemination of hu18 manistic knowledge through services to readers,

19 fellowships, educational and cultural programs,

20 publication of significant research, and other

21 activities; and

22 ‘‘(D) is not an integral part of an institu23 tion of higher education.

24 ‘‘(4) TECHNOLOGY ENHANCEMENT.—The term

25 ‘technology enhancement’ means the acquisition, in-
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1 stallation, maintenance, or replacement, of substan2 tial technological equipment (including library biblio3 graphic automation equipment) necessary to provide

4 access to information in electronic and other formats

5 made possible by new information and communica6 tions technologies.

7 ‘‘(c) APPLICABILITY.—Except as provided in section

8 243, the provisions of this subtitle (other than this chap9 ter) shall not apply to this chapter.

10 ‘‘SEC. 242. USES OF FEDERAL FUNDS.

11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A State shall use funds appro12 priated under section 244 to pay the Federal share of the

13 cost of construction or technology enhancement of public

14 libraries.

15 ‘‘(b) FEDERAL SHARE.—

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes of sub17 section (a), the Federal share of the cost of con18 struction or technology enhancement of any project

19 assisted under this chapter shall not exceed one-half

20 of the total cost of the project.

21 ‘‘(2) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—The non-Federal

22 share of the cost of construction or technology en23 hancement of any project assisted under this chapter

24 may be provided from State, local or private sources,

25 including for-profit and nonprofit organizations.
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1 ‘‘(c) SPECIAL RULE.—If, within 20 years after com2 pletion of construction of any public library facility that

3 has been constructed in part with grant funds made avail4 able under this chapter—

5 ‘‘(1) the recipient of the grant funds (or its suc6 cessor in title or possession) ceases or fails to be a

7 public or nonprofit institution, or

8 ‘‘(2) the facility ceases to be used as a library

9 facility, unless the Director determines that there is

10 good cause for releasing the institution from its obli11 gation,

12 the United States shall be entitled to recover from such

13 recipient (or successor) an amount which bears the same

14 ratio to the value of the facility at that time (or part there15 of constituting an approved project or projects) as the

16 amount of the Federal grant bore to the cost of such facil17 ity (or part thereof). The value shall be determined by the

18 parties or by action brought in the United States district

19 court for the district in which the facility is located.

20 ‘‘SEC. 243. DESCRIPTION INCLUDED IN STATE PLAN.

21 ‘‘Any State desiring to receive a grant under this

22 chapter for any fiscal year shall submit, as a part of the

23 State plan under section 224, a description of the public

24 library construction or technology enhancement activities

25 to be assisted under this chapter.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 244. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out

3 this chapter $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2002 and each

4 of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.’’.

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