Governor's Budget Issued for FY2006: Good News for Libraries
Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has issued his version of the budget (called House 1). This budget includes modest increases in library funding, and Massachusetts library leaders are cautiously optimistic about this year's budget process.

The Governor's budget called for increases in two line items, the budget for the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, and Line Item 7000-9506, which funds many projects and programs for library technology, connectivity and resource sharing. Line 9506 was once funded at over $4 million, but during budget cutting in the last few years, was reduced, and almost eliminated last year. Urgent advocacy by the library community in 2004 saved and funded this important line item, but this year MLA is calling for a major increase to restore this funding for vital services.

Massachusetts Library Association President Carolyn Noah has issued a statement, "MLA supports the House 1 budget, but calls for an increase in Line Item #7000-9506 to $6 million, which will adequately support library networks and other vital programs that keep our local libraries working for our communities." (From MLA Legislative Alerts http://capwiz.com/masslib/issues/alert/?alertid=6892611&type=CU)

 

Legislative Events: Mark Your Calendars!

Northeast Legislative Breakfast - Friday, March 4, 2005
Next year's Northeast Library Legislative Breakfast is scheduled for Friday, March 4, 2005 at the Reading Public Library. Invitations are in the mail. Please join us and call your legislators to invite them to attend.

MLA Library Legislative Day - Wednesday, April 6, 2005
The Massachusetts Library Association has scheduled Library Legislative Day on April 6, 2005 at the Statehouse.

Ride the Bus to Library Legislative Day!
The NMRLS Legislative Education Committee hopes to arrange for a bus to ease transportation headaches for attendees from our region. The NMRLS Legislative Education Committee is arranging to provide bus service from the region to make it easy to attend MLA Legislative Day at the State House on April 6, 2005. We are taking a poll to see if this is feasible.

We need about 33 passengers to make it cost effective. We would ask each passenger to cover their own cost in advance of about $15.00 round trip. The bus will depart at about 8:00 AM from a place in the region to be determined and make one or two stops on its way to Boston, arriving about 9:30 AM. The bus will depart the State House about 1:30 PM for the return trip. Please send a note to greg@nmrls.org by February 17th and let me know if you and any of your staff members, trustees, and/or friends would be likely sign up for this service. Let me know if you have any questions.

Find a Mentor
We also wonder if there might be some who would like a mentor to accompany them on their first legislative visit. If you are interested in making such arrangements, please let me know: greg@nmrls.org.