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The LTLS Board of Directors Meeting has been postponed from September 17, 2007 until September 24, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. at System headquarters. Members of the LTLS Board and LTLS staff will attend a hearing to be held in Urbana at 6:00 p.m. on September 17 regarding library related reductions that the Governor made in the FY 2008 budget.
Budget Veto Overrides
As reported in previous ILA Updates (see ILA Updates 14, 15, and 16, the governor vetoed more than $450 million from the budget passed by the Illinois General Assembly. Among the items vetoed were an additional one million dollars in library per capital grants benefiting all Illinois public libraries, and many member initiatives providing funding to specific libraries for local projects. Governor Blagojevich vetoed many such projects simply because they were requested by House Democrats or Senate Republicans, while identical projects requested by House Republicans and Senate Democrats were left in the budget.
Prior to passing the budget, all four legislative leaders (Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives Michael J. Madigan, Illinois Senate Minority Leader Frank C. Watson, and Illinois House of Representatives Minority Leader Tom Cross) agreed that both chambers would vote to override any budget vetoes by the governor. However, Illinois Senate President Emil Jones has since announced that he will now not allow an override motion to be considered in the Illinois Senate.
Speaker Madigan still intends to vote on overriding the governor’s budget vetoes. The Illinois House of Representatives plans to vote on motions to override the first week of October. In advance of the October vote, the house also plans to convene hearings around the state highlighting the adverse effects of the governor’s vetoes.
ILA asks that every ILA member contact their local legislators and ask each to support overriding the governor’s vetoes of library funding. Specifically, ILA members should ask their local senator to personally file a motion to override the governor’s veto of library funding.
ILA will advise the Illinois library community as soon as possible where and when the house budget hearings will be held, and we encourage you to attend those hearings to voice opposition to the governor’s budget cuts.
As a point of information, to override the governor’s veto, a three-fifths supermajority is required.
Senate Bill (SB) 186, Working Cash Funds
In addition to these budgetary concerns, ILA also urges all public library districts to contact their local legislators and ask support an override of the veto of Senate Bill (SB) 186, Working Cash Funds. As background information, this bill passed in the Illinois Senate Local Government Committee unanimously, it passed the Illinois Senate unanimously, it passed in the Illinois House of Representatives Local Government Committee unanimously, and it passed in the Illinois House of Representatives 113 to 2. Clearly, this bill enjoys broad bipartisan support. It addresses the management of public library district working cash funds by adopting provisions consistent with other units of local government, such as park districts and schools. On Friday, 17 August, Governor Blagojevich vetoed SB 186.
Public library districts are entitled to establish working cash funds for a period of four tax years, but the tax years need not be consecutive; the establishment of a working cash fund is subject to a back door referendum. The bill updates the annual limit on the maximum size of a working cash fund to 0.2 percent of the 1998 cash value of taxable property; clarifies that interest earned from temporarily idle funds may be transferred to the general fund; and allows library districts to reestablish working cash funds by the same method as originally created, meaning they are subject to a back door rather than a front door referendum.
The governor’s stated reason was, “Senate Bill 186 allows the reestablishment of a working cash fund without a referendum. For this reason, I hereby veto and return Senate Bill 186.”
With the bill returned to the Illinois Senate, it is time for both chambers to override the veto.
Transit-funding Bill Fails
A measure that would raise local taxes to shore up funding for the Northeastern Illinois mass-transit systems failed in the Illinois House of Representatives, raising the potential for fare hikes and service cuts. House Democrats provided the vast majority of the votes as only a handful of Republicans from the Chicago suburbs supported the measure.
The house needed 71 votes—a three-fifths supermajority—in the overtime session to pass the tax package that they want to take effect as soon as possible, based on the financial needs expressed by Metra, Pace, and the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA). The bill fell ten votes short.
The CTA said it would go ahead with fare increases and service cuts on Sunday, 16 September if it doesn’t get a financial boost from the legislature. The CTA will increase cash fares from $2 to $2.50 for buses and $3 on trains during peak hours, and it will eliminate thirty-nine bus routes. Pace increases would include raising paratransit fares to a standard $3 charge, from $2.25 in Chicago and $2.50 in DuPage, Lake, McHenry, and Will Counties.
October 2007 ILA Reporter to Be Posted on Web Site Today
The October 2007 ILA Reporter will posted today on the ILA Web site at http://www.ila.org/pub/reporter.htm
Check it out!
Advance Registration for 2007 ILA Annual Conference
Monday, 10 September is the deadline date for advance registration for the 2007 ILA Annual Conference. Save money. Get your registration today.
https://www.ila.org/events/reg_conf.htm
Exhibits at the 2007 ILA Annual Conference
Free exhibit passes will be available on-site at the Prairie Capital Convention Center. Join our exhibitors on Wednesday, 10 October, for an opening luncheon reception from 12:30 to 2:00 P.M. and a cookie break from 3:00 to 3:30 P.M. On Thursday, 11 October, visit the exhibits for complimentary coffee from 10:30 to 11:30 A.M. and a closing lunch reception from 12:30 to 2:00 P.M. Exhibit hours: Wednesday, 10 October, from 12:30 to 5:00 P.M. and Thursday, 11 October, from 9:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. Please note that exhibits will not be open on Friday, 12 October.
Next ILA Executive Board Meeting
The ILA Executive Board will be meeting Friday, 21 September, Ramada Limited, 3281 Northfield Dr., Springfield, IL 62702; phone: (217) 523-4000; fax: (217) 523-4080. The ILA Executive Board meeting is open to the public. It will begin at 10:00 A.M. Your attendance and participation is welcomed. Written suggestions and comments are also most welcomed.
There is much debate over the long-term future of library buildings. Will people want to visit libraries, or will they prefer to get their information online and have little need for physical library buildings? We don't know the answer.
Whether you think the future is bright or bleak for libraries as physical spaces, you can not help being impressed by the awe-inspiring photographs of over 60 of the world's most beautiful libraries collected on the weblog "Curious Expeditions: Travelling and Exhuming the Extraordinary Past" in a short essay entitled "Librophiliac Love Letter: A Compendium of Beautiful Libraries".
Don't rush. You will need a few minutes to appreciate these photos. They are cathedrals to the glory and preservation of human knowledge. Monuments to the idea that knowldege can lift the human spirit. If they don't inspire a sense of the nobility of the profession of librarianship, nothing will.
