[Nmtriblibs] FW: [EXTERNAL] NMLA Legislative Bulletin # 20

[Moore, Patricia, DCA]

Forwarded on behalf of Joe Sabatini… Thank you, Joe.

From: Joe Sabatini <jsabatini423 at gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 7, 2024 9:49 AM
Subject: [EXTERNAL] NMLA Legislative Bulletin # 20

NMLA Legislative Bulletin # 20                                    March 7, 2024

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham completed her review of bills passed by the Legislature. The three money bills we were tracking  were all signed by the Governor on March 6th.

HB 2, the General Appropriations Act, included the restored State Library position for Continuing Education and a $2.5 million appropriation for the Rural Libraries Endowment Fund. It also includes two library project which were not in the SB 275 Capital Outlay Projects Bill:

8) one hundred sixty thousand dollars ($160,000) to provide programmatic resources the city of Bloomfield public library and reading and literacy; (p. 262)

7) one hundred sixty thousand dollars ($160,000) for programmatic costs and resources for library services, education services and social health programs for domestic violence and sexual assault in Grant, Hidalgo and Catron counties; (p. 266)

There is language on p. 294 authorizing the State Library to distribute funds from the Rural Libraries Endowment Fund:

(28) the cultural affairs department may request budget increases... the library services program of the cultural affairs department may request budget increases from other state funds in the rural libraries program fund for rural library grants.

HB 308, the General Obligations Bonds bill, provides a Library Bond Issue for $19 million, including $6 million each for academic, school and public libraries and $1 million for tribal libraries. This will appear on the November 5th General Election ballot.  NMLA's Bonds for Libraries Special Interest Group will provide information and other materials about the bond issue from a link on the NMLA website.

The Governor signed SB 275, the Capital Outlay Projects bill, providing $1.576 billion in projects statewide. A total of $483 million in state agency capital projects are funded. There are $570 million in Severance Tax Bonds in the bill, and $523 million in local public body projects.Among those projects are 42 library-related projects costing $6,989,200. The Governor did not line-item-veto any library-related project in the bill. Approved library projects are shown on the attached chart.

Joe Sabatini, Co-Chair
NMLA Legislation Committee

We share a message from the ALA Public Policy & Advocacy Office

Last Chance to #FundLibraries in FY2024 📚

ALA Public Policy & Advocacy Office imanager at alawash.org<mailto:imanager at alawash.org> via cmail20.com<http://cmail20.com>

Librarians on Capitol Hill need your help!

Hello advocate!

Congress is racing to avoid a government shutdown and pass a final FY24 budget. In the coming days, legislators will face hard decisions on which programs to maintain funding for – and which ones to cut. Now, it's our last chance to make our voices heard before Congress finalizes the budget:

Tell Congress to #FundLibraries before the Deadline!
https://oneclickpolitics.global.ssl.fastly.net/messages/edit?promo_id=19803

To recap where we’ve been in the appropriations process: first, the President proposed a budget for fiscal year 2024. Next, the House and Senate will each draft their versions of appropriations bills.

Thanks to your advocacy, dozens of Congressmembers signed on to support funding for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), Innovative Approaches to Literacy program (IAL), and library facilities.

Since then, Congress has continued to keep government funding steady without passing a full budget - but their newest deadline is March 22. It's time to speak up one last time in this budget cycle and make sure that Congress hears the message loud and clear: #FundLibraries in the FY24 budget!

Speak Up for Library Funding!
Learn more about the campaign – and find tools to share this action – at ALA’s #FundLibraries homepage.

Thank you for all you do for libraries!

ALA Public Policy & Advocacy


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