video tape recorders, the other major components of the system both here in the Capitol and over in the House Recording Studio. Mr. BENJAMIN. Let me see if I understand you. The House is in session no more than 180 days a year or thereabouts. For the remaining 180 days excluding weekends and whatever vacation they have, you are maintaining those cameras? Mr. HARTNETT. Maintaining the whole plant system, sir. We are talking about just in the TV control $1.6 million worth of equipment. The studio has another $1 million-plus of equipment, and it is highly sophisticated equipment. It takes constant attention. HOUSE RECORDING STUDIO We have equipment over in the studio that is 12 years old, and we would like to keep our equipment as long as we can, so we don't have to spend a lot of money on replacement, because this stuff is getting very expensive. A television camera today costs $110,000. Mr. BENJAMIN. I am aware of that, but it kind of reminds me of the Army, where you just pull the old rifle out every so often and clean it whether you need to clean it or not because there is time set aside in the schedule to clean it. Mr. HARTNETT. Sir, one thing I should point out is this particular department, the House Recording Studio, mostly perhaps because of the television coverage of floor proceedings, has more overtime than any other department under the Clerk, and obviously we cannot pay back in money, so we pay back in compensatory time, so we do give our people probably more days off in compensatory time in addition to the normal annual leave, so that probably takes up some of the time that you are referring to. Mr. BENJAMIN. What about when the days the House is only in session for an hour or an hour and a half; do you then reclaim compensatory time? Mr. HARTNETT. Yes, sir, if we can. We try and reclaim it as quickly as possible. VIDEO TAPE PRODUCTION Mr. BENJAMIN. Have you had contact with the Library of Congress in regards to any production that they intend to make using video tape? Mr. HARTNETT. Yes, sir, I have. Mr. BENJAMIN. And what is the result of that? Mr. HARTNETT. It is my understanding that there is a section of the Library of Congress under-I can't think of his name right now. They are trying to put together some brief video tape cassette material that eventually they want to put out over the closed circuit system here in the House. They have put about 3 hours of it in the fall of '79 on the system. It was a straight lecture-type thing that was done in several different places here in town. The quality was less than broadcast quality, in my opinion, but they are starting to do some of those things. Mr. BENJAMIN. Are you zealously guarding your jurisdiction over TV, to make sure that they don't start another TV studio? Mr. HARTNETT. Could I talk off the record? Mr. BENJAMIN. Sure. [Discussion off the record.] VIDEO AND AUDIO RECORDINGS Mr. BENJAMIN. On the record. If I understand your operation, you provide recordings to Members, both video and audio? Mr. HARTNETT. Yes, sir. Mr. BENJAMIN. You also provide audio to the media of House sessions and video of House sessions? Mr. HARTNETT. Right. We provide live audio and video to the press galleries in the Capitol and Rayburn to be picked up at no charge by the media. Mr. BENJAMIN. What do you charge for the services to the media and what is your recovery? Mr. HARTNETT. Our rates are based on a replenishment of the House Recording Studio revolving funds. That is a nonappropriated fund that procures all the equipment in the studio and maintains it. The only appropriated funds that go into the studio are for salaries. All the equipment there and the maintenance of that equipment and the supplies associated with that come out of the revolving fund which is replenished by the use of the studio by Members. Last year we had our largest use in the studio by Members. We had 400 different using Members. That figure had been running about 350. Mr. BENJAMIN. That is for what? Mr. HARTNETT. Audio, video and film. We had a very good year saleswise. It put our revolving fund at a healthier level, to a point where we feel comfortable, because we know that in one year we have to buy two new cameras and in three years we have to buy two new video tape recorders. POSITION ROTATION Mr. BENJAMIN. Is the cameraman, a vacant position itemized on the sheet the Clerk has presented us, a cameraman for the Recording Studio? Mr. HARTNETT. All the camera operators, all the engineering people, rotate back and forth between both facilities for backup, flexibility, morale. So it is a position in the studio and sometimes he might be working on the House floor or sometimes he might be working in the studio. There are times when the House is in session later, after 6:00, where the people that have been working downstairs in TV control need a chance to go for dinner. So we bring people over from the studio when they finish there at 6 or so to relieve the people in TV control for an hour to take a walk and have dinner and then they come back and the studio people go home. But it is scheduled by the management people in the studio to rotate people in their particular expertise. Mr. COLLEY. Mr. Chairman, there is a detailed report from the studio in the notebook that I gave to you if you might be interested in pursuing it. I would like to state on the record, if I may, that Bill Hartnett is probably the single most important individual responsible for start ing up the television operation. The House went on the air on schedule because he headed up the recruitment of staff, got the equipment together, installed a complete control room and worked many long hours to make it succeed." Mr. BENJAMIN. Are there other questions? COST RECOVERY Mr. COLLEY. Mr. Chairman, I would like to mention one thing since you raised the recovery question on the studio. As I recall, we discussed a bit of this last year, but as you know, in the Office Supply Service under the Clerk we do take checks and cash for nonofficial purchases. There is a 10 percent service charge added on to cover the cost of the service being provided. During 1979 this produced an income of $86,000 to the office supply service from these nonofficial purchases. Mr. SMITH. If a Member wants 30 minutes of video tape, they pay according to what your cost is, is that it? Mr. COLLEY. Yes, sir. There is a scheduled rate that is in effect for video or audio tape. Mr. SMITH. Is that designed to recover costs? Mr. COLLEY. On a reasonable basis but not all, obviously. Mr. SMITH. But you don't charge news media? Mr. COLLEY. If they bought tape, but if they make a live pickup, they use their own equipment. STUDIO REVOLVING FUND Mr. BENJAMIN. It indicates in the annual report from the House Recording Studio that the revolving fund's balance at the close of the year was approximately $290,000. The budget for calendar year 1980 is recommended at $125,000. I assume that would leave $165,000 in balance before you even get the receipts for calendar year 1980. What do we do when that fund starts to build? Is there any spillover? Mr. COLLEY. Not at this point, Mr. Chairman. The budget that is proposed is basically for purchases of equipment and supplies. We have not had a spillover that I can recall. I can check the record back through the years if you would like and let you know. Mr. BENJAMIN. If I understand what Bill said, we charge an amount that would recover for the film and maintenance of equipment and new equipment-in other words, every bit of operating expense except salaries. That amount at the end of calendar year 1979 was such an amount that even if you received no money in calendar year 1980, he would only spend $125,000 out of $290,000. But if he recovers dollar for dollar except for salaries, he should have $290,000-plus. Mr. HARTNETT. Sir, you will remember that I mentioned in about next year, probably the summer of next year, we may need to replace two cameras over there. We know that. We are looking at five years ahead. Mr. BENJAMIN. Two cameras in the Recording Studio? Mr. BENJAMIN. Have you used any money in the revolving fund for cameras in the House? Mr. HARTNETT. No, sir. We have kept those funds apart. We have rarely gone over $320,000, in all the years I have been here, in the revolving fund at the studio. Mr. BENJAMIN. It looks like you are going to go over that now. Mr. HARTNETT. We may. Hopefully, we will go to maybe $350,000 because if we have to turn around and buy two cameras for $250,000, then we will be way below again. Then I know in two years after that we will have to replace our 15 year old video tape recorders. Mr. BENJAMIN. Is the revolving fund one of those that is annually audited by GAO? Mr. HARTNETT. Yes, sir. Mr. BENJAMIN. Do you have a report on that audit? Mr. COLLEY. We have it. I can provide it for the record. The Studio, Finance Office, Office Supply Service, and Office Equipment Service are audited each year. Mr. BENJAMIN. In fact, why don't we get all of those? Mr. COLLEY. All right. [CLERK'S NOTE: The reports have been supplied and are in committee files.] PERSONNEL OVERTIME Mr. BENJAMIN. Live television coverage of floor proceedings amounted to 907 hours and 152 days, and yet we had 2,237 hours of overtime which rated compensatory hours. If we only had live coverage for 907 hours, and of course this overtime is studio and floor coverage, why do we have such a large number of overtime hours? Mr. HARTNETT. If the House comes in at 10 in the morning, we have engineering people here at 6 in the morning. It takes three hours to set those cameras up on the House floor. If we have any problems, then it takes longer. Mr. BENJAMIN. Okay. This 907 hours covers 152 days. Assuming three hours of setup for 152 days, you are going to add 456 hours to that. Yet we still come up with much more overtime. Mr. HARTNETT. There might be two or three engineers that come in that early in the morning and then all the production people come in well before the House goes into session because we have to go up and adjust the lights. Those lights for some reason go out of focus every two weeks so we send somebody up to the attic with radios and adjust the focus every couple of weeks. We have to check the lights, check the mikes. Mr. COLLEY. This also includes the studio overtime for production and engineering, right? Mr. HARTNETT. Yes, sir. Last year in particular we had a lot of late nights in the House Recording Studio. Mr. MICHEL. Why do you have to have them here at 6 in the morning if we begin at 10? Will you go through the steps on that again for me? Mr. HARTNETT. It takes three hours to set a camera. Mr. MICHEL. They are already set and they barely move around. Mr. HARTNETT. We set up a color chart with the series from grays up into the colors and each electrical circuit in the camera has to be properly adjusted. Mr. MICHEL. Do you have to do that every day? Mr. HARTNETT. Yes, sir. Mr. MICHEL. You say you don't know why the lights go out of focus every two weeks. Does that happen in a commercial studio, too? Mr. HARTNETT. No, sir. We have a unique problem. Our lights are set up so as not to upset the decor of the room. We had to build special fixtures in the attic and the heating and air conditioning is in the attic chamber and we feel it is the vibration that causes those lights to go out. All it has to do is go out one-eighth of an inch and it will throw it out three feet by the time it hits the well or the Speaker's rostrum or the majority and minority tables. There is an awful lot of work associated with television coverage. It is not a simple project. It takes good, qualified people and a lot of work, believe me. Mr. COLLEY. Mr. Chairman, I would like to put in the record the table of the Clerk's appropriations by various years shown on page 14 of the statement. Mr. BENJAMIN. Ray, when do you get your annual reports in from all your agencies? Mr. COLLEY. We got most of them in about mid-January. Mr. BENJAMIN. When you get those in, make sure that we get a copy of them. Mr. COLLEY. The entire collection for 1979 is in that notebook. Mr. BENJAMIN. Yes. It is difficult to examine it now. Mr. COLLEY. We got a couple of late ones. You would like to have them in advance of the hearing? Mr. BENJAMIN. Absolutely. That is exactly what I am saying. Are there any other questions on the Recording Studio? ADDITIONAL POSITIONS Mr. MICHEL. You are asking for what, three additional people? Mr. HARTNETT. We have been given three additional positions. Mr. COLLEY. And they are annualized in the fiscal year 1980 request, Mr. Michel. Mr. MICHEL. That is due to what, increased business? |