This summary from California Healthline has a good overview of the impact that the president’s proposed FY 2015 budget will have on health and medical funding, and also what the initial reaction to some of the proposals has been. Note that the largest cuts will be in Medicare and Medicaid, with an estimated $400 billion…
Category: Legislation
For news about legislative activity relevant to librarianship. Not for news about or from the HSLI Legislative Committee.
FY 2015 Federal Budget
Yesterday (March 4), President Obama made his budget request for the upcoming fiscal year. Overall, the requested budget funding for libraries is down slightly from what was actually enacted last year (by $412,000, or about 0.2 percent). There has also been a cut in funding coming from LSTA (Library Services Technology Act), by $307,000, or…
Illinois Senate Bill 3071–contract bids
I’d like to alert everyone to Illinois SB3071, which was introduced on February 7 and was assigned to the Local Government Committee on February 19. The bill amends the Illinois Local Library Act and the Public Library District Act of 1991. Specifically, the legislation states that a library’s board will not be mandated to take…
ILA Positions on Legislation
For anyone participating in the upcoming legislative meet-ups, here is an updated version of the “talking points” that focuses on specific legislation (first story in ILA e-newsletter). “ILA Executive Board Determines Positions on Key Legislative Bills” The state budget remains the primary concern, especially in retaining full funding for the Secretary of State’s per-capita grants…
Internet Filters and Online Health Information
In light of the reintroduction of Illinois Senate Bill 2784 (SB2784), the “Internet Screening in Public Libraries Act”, and the possible effects that this legislation would have on access to health information, here is a link to a study by the Kaiser Foundation. (The study is from 2002, but it is still well-regarded, and although…
ILA Legislative Meet-Ups REMINDER
This is just a reminder that the ILA’s legislative meet-ups are happening soon. If you are planning to attend, the schedule is below. Even if you missed the registration deadline or your elected officials are not covered by one of the meet-ups, you can still schedule your own meeting with them. South Suburban Breakfast in…
Action Needed on Filtering Legislation (Illinois SB2784)
Please note this important legislative alert from the Illinois Library Association. The alert concerns Senate Bill 2784, sponsored by Illinois State Senator Kwame Raoul (Democrat, 13th District-Chicago), which creates the “Internet Screening in Public Libraries Act”. A direct link to the legislation, which was introduced on January 30, is here: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=2784&GAID=12&GA=98&DocTypeID=SB&LegID=78649&SessionID=85 The main objection to this…
Illinois’ New Concealed-Carry Law
Hope everyone had a nice holiday. I’m sure many of you are aware that Illinois’ new concealed-carry law, which allows concealed carry by those individuals not deemed as posing a threat to the public, went into effect on January 1. As this article from the Springfield State Journal-Register notes, the law will not have much impact on…
Articles From ILA Newsletter of December 23, 2013
When you have a chance, please take a look at the following two articles from the latest edition of the Illinois Library Association’s newsletter. “For Illinois Senators, An Odd Public Friendship” This article discusses the unusual bipartisanship between Illinois’s U.S. Senators, Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk. (Such bipartisanship is uncommon in “split delegations”, or sets…
Grassroots Advocacy
The bumper sticker above was created by Susan Shelly and posted on MedLib-L. Another great suggestion from Dina McKelvy is: Does your doctor use a library? Don’t you think they should? Get the message out any way you can, hospital libraries are important!