MSA Public Policy Committee Reports
Summer 1997
Winter 1998
Summer 1998
Winter 1999
Summer 1999

Public Policy Home

This report is organized in three sections: (1) Activities of the Public Policy Committee in the past 6 months, (2) Our goals for next year, and (3) Action Items and Budget

1. Activities of the Public Policy Committee

   Science Funding for FY99. Overall, the news for science funding in FY 99 is good but muted. Although an increase for NIH is promised, the death of the tobacco settlement removes the source of money the President counted on to fund it. The hopes of doubling the NIH budget over 5 years, or even 10, appear dim at this point. The NSF has Senate approval of a bill which would increase its funding but remains several percent lower than the President requested. In this election year, delays and posturing may mean we enter fiscal 1999 on continuing resolutions, AGAIN.

   Interaction with Other Societies. I have discussed this at length with my Committee and with Ralph Albrecht. The larger societies (AAAS, AAMC, CSSP, AIP) monitor Congressional activity and on occasion take the "correct" position from a scientist's viewpoint on the large issues facing our community. They do not follow smaller specific issues such as instrumentation, nor advocate for them on a daily basis when a critical bill is pending. Our conclusion is that they do a good job, but do not meet our specific needs. However, AIP runs a very useful, almost daily, newsletter on all Congressional and Federal agency issues affecting physical and engineering sciences.

   Five years ago, we considered the option of joining the Joint Steering Committee which included the cell biologists and others which would have cost ~$20,000/year. It was at that time, that MSA decided to hire someone to target issues of concern to our own members. We also looked into becoming a full member of AIP so that we would have some voice on issues; at that time the cost was approximately $25,000/year. Another group very active recently on instrumentation issues, and interested in having us join them as an Associate Member, is FASEB which would cost us at least $5,000/year. Although biological, this would not only balance the scale with AIP, but also would aid all MSA members because NSF is one of their targeted agencies. Council may wish to discuss this, but at this time we are not recommending any specific alliance.

   MSA Public Policy - Public Perception. It was gratifying to receive an email from Dr. Judith Vaitukaitis, the Director of Research Resources at NIH which credited MSA's continued interest as an important feature in increasing the budget request for the the Shared Instrumentation Grant to $35 million (copy attached).

   In June 1998 the Chief Financial Officer of the National Science Foundation, Joe Kull, contacted me to arrange a visit while he was in California to discuss instrumentation needs of the scientific community. I was able to include Mike Isaacson, John Sedat and Robert Fletterink in this discussion. Joe called at the recommendation of Dr. Nat Pitts who was one of last years speakers at the Public Policy presentation and is Director of the NSF's Office of Science and Technology Infrastructure. Joe reiterated the importance of MSA's interest in these issues. There were no MSA sponsored visits by committee members to the Hill this year, although Mike Isaacson did visit some Congressional offices while in D.C. on Cornell business. So, we did retain some of our Congressional and agency visibility on these issues.

   It is worth sharing that Nestor was also involved in a multi-site demonstration on Capitol Hill on June 18, 1998 of the Materials MicroCharacterization Collaboratory funded by DOE, called "The Future of Experimental Science: A Novel Use of the Internet" . This is an outgrowth of Nestor's original work at Argonne. He invited several agency and science advocates that we suggested to him, and this, too, may have helped keep MSA in the public eye.

   Use of Electronic Media. Sharing legislative information on occasion with the Public Policy Committee and the MSA Council via email listserves has worked well. Attempts to use similar listserves created from our "grass roots" members and organized by state, did not work well. I have discussed this with Nestor and also the larger issue of creating a hot link for this Committee on MSA's web page. This link would provide both a monthly update on the status of funding for instrumentation, and a forum for enlisting the support of MSA members wishing to write their Congresspersons on particular issues. Because Nestor indicated he does not have the necessary time to do this, I have included a budget item to allow us to accomplish this goal using the Computer Assistance Program, based at UC-Berkeley. Then Nestor would need only link this to our current web site.

   Via snail mail, Avril Somlyo and I have reached the MSA membership via an article in a recent MSA Bulletin. This informed the membership about Public Policy activities and requested their input on our future directions.

2. Goals for MSA Public Policy Committee in 1998:

   Create a "hot link" for the MSA website to facilitate MSA member education and voluntary involvement with scientific issues affecting their research and careers.

   With a limited budget for travel, the Public Policy Committee will try to keep the importance of funding for instrumentation in front of the 106th Congress.

   Add industry representation to the MSA Public Policy Committee. We have invited Mike Thompson of Philips to join the Public Policy Committee; if he accepts it will give us the important perspective of a Sustaining Member and major exhibitor.

   Present a Public Policy program at the Portland meeting in 1999.

3. ACTION ITEMS and BUDGET

   Approve budget for the year July 1, 1998 - June 30, 1999*

   Washington FAX, Congresional Handboook	$ 750
   Secretarial support, fax, phone	$ 500
   One trip to D.C. for Chair**	$ 800
   Supplemental DC travel (day "tack-ons" for committee or Council members	$ 450
   Creation of a committee web site for MSA	$2000
   Total	$4500
   *Program money was not used for Atlanta 1998. **To occur after President Clinton sends the FY00 budget to Congess.