Governor Romney signed the FY05 state budget into law on June 25, 2004, at the State House. There were no cuts to the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners budget.

Three budget lines -- Administration of the Board of Library State Commissioners, Aid to Regional Public Libraries, and the Talking Book Library at Worcester -- were level-funded to FY04 levels. The three remaining lines -- Talking Book Library at Perkins School, Library Technology and Resource Sharing, and State Aid To Public Libraries - received funding greater than FY04. As part of the latter, the MBLC will have the authority to grant a total of 65 waivers of the municipal appropriation requirement (MAR) for FY05.

For details and comparisons to other years see: www.nmrls.org/legislative-update/.