Library funding and operations bills circulating

Two library bills which resulted from the State Superintendent's Task Force on Public Library Legislation and Funding are circulating and will likely be introduced in this session. The bills' sponsors are Sen. Joe Leibham (R- Sheboygan) and Rep. Stephen Freese (R-Dodgeville). WLA members are encouraged to contact their legislators to urge cosponsorship in order to boost the bills' chances of success. The deadline for cosponsorship is July 21.

The bills are LRB-0411/2 and LRB-0412/1, to adopt several of the Task Force's recommendations to reform the way that libraries andlibrary systems are operated and funded. The Task Force finished its work in 2002; the bills were introduced late in the legislature's last session and didn't progress. For more information on the bills, including the text of the drafts, and a DPI summary of the key points, go to the WLA Legislative status report: http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/legis/BudgetStatusReport.htm.