Following is a draft of a Government Affairs Bulletin going to all AAM
institutions via FAX tonight:

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR MUSEUM DIRECTORS                  10/1/96



In the last moments of the session, the historic 104th Congress passed
major legislation affecting museums.  Authorized and funded is the new
Institute of Museum and Library Services, a combination of the old IMS and
the public library program that was fo rmerly at the Department of
Education.  (The library program passes about $136 million for the coming
year to state library agencies, an increase of about 4%.) The new IMLS is
a sister agency to NEA and NEH within the National Foundation on the Arts
and Humanities, just as IMS was.  This is the first time, however, that a
single agency within the Foundation received authorization while the other
did not; in other words, NEA and NEH remain unauthorized.  Diane Frankel,
the current director of IMS, will he ad the new IMLS.

Congress took several steps to safeguard the interests of both museums and
libraries under the new arrangement.  Most important, the law provides
that the two branches of the agency retain separate boards and draw their
appropriations from separate, non-c ompeting accounts.  Also, the
directorship will alternate between persons from library and museum
backgrounds.  Finally, two new deputy director positions are created, one
for museums and one for libraries; these are permanent civil service jobs,
not poli tical appointments.

Obviously, there are potential pluses and minuses to the new setup.  AAM
neither opposed nor supported the bill as a whole.  However, we did work
closely with Congress to ensure that appropriate safeguards, such as the
alternating directo rship, were included in the law.  We will watch
closely over all aspects of implementation.  At least for FY 1997, the new
Office of Museum Services within IMLS is identical with the old IMS in
terms of staffing and programs.  The mission is slightly alte red to
include promoting joint projects between museums and libraries.  One piece
of unambiguous good news:  FY 97 funding increases by $1 million, to $22
million.

In other funding news, NEA and NEH will receive the same level of funding
as they got this year, $99.5 million and $110 million, respectively.  This
is especially good news for NEH, because both chambers had at first
proposed reductions.  The NSF Informal Science Education program will
receive level funding at $36 million, although it must spend $10 million
of that funding in efforts that promote systemic education reform.  Again,
this is good news, because the Administration had proposed a $10 million
cu t.  The Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance
Program will receive level funding at $21.5 million.  The charter school
program, which funds planning grants, increases from $18 million to $51
million.  Goals 2000, which sends money t o states and local school
districts to promote school reform, increases 38% to $491 million.

Congress has chartered a new private organization, the U.S. National
Tourism Organization, to replace the defunct U.S. Travel and Tourism
Administration.  Under the charter, AAM gets to elect a board member, as
does the National Trust for Historic Preserv ation.  Most of the remaining
45 board members will be elected by associations representing the tourism
industry.

Overall, we have much to be happy about.  Thank you to those of you who
called and written your representatives.  Your efforts have greatly aided
our advocacy in Washington on these issues.

If you have any questions or would like more details about any of the
above programs, please contact AAM Government Affairs at 202-289-9125; fax
289-6578.


Andy Finch
AAM Government Affairs
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