Legislative Bulletin #1

The Legislative Bulletin is a summary of library legislation during the 2012 Legislature, provided by the Legislation Committee of the New Mexico Library Association.

The 2012 Legislative session starts on Tuesday, January 18th. This will be a 30-day session, ending at noon on February 16th. February 1st is the last day for new bills to be introduced.

Committee Hearings
HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS & FINANCE COMMITTEE HEARING SCHEDULE,
Wednesday, January 11, ROOM 307
1:30 Full Committee Hearing
(505) Cultural Affairs Department (Soderquist/Baird)

The House Appropriations and Finance Committee is meeting prior to the session to hear presentations from state agencies about their budget requests. The Cultural Affairs Department includes the New Mexico State Library. Legislation Committee members will be attending to see if questions occur about agency staffing levels or the State Grants-in-Aid to Public Libraries come up. Library supporters are welcome to attend.

N.M.L.A. LEGISLATIVE DAY IS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2ND.

We need as many supporters as we can to attend Legislative Day. Attendees will make contact with their local legislators. We will also be recognized during opening ceremonies in each chamber. Delegations representing types of libraries and geographica areas will be introduced in the Senate by Senator Dede Feldman and in the House by Representative Edward Sandoval.

Library supporters should gather in the galleries for these ceremonies, which occur soon after the session opens. We do not yet have the times for these ceremonies, but they will be posted on information kiosks in the Capitol lobby. The likely time will be between 10:00 and 11:00 am. Participants who arrive before then have a better chance of actually visiting with their legislators in their offices or as they attend their 8:00 am committee meetings. We are also planning to have an orientation session at the Santa Fe Public Library downtown at 8:30 am. Details will be in the next bulletin.

A Legislation Committee representatives, wearing our yellow “Support Libraries” button, will be around to answer your questions.

Bring with you any information about your library and its needs, which you can leave off at individual legislative offices. Senate and House member offices are shown at http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/lcsdocs/office_assignments.pdf

We will keep you informed as things develop.

Joe Sabatini, Co-Chair
NMLA Legislation Committee

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Category: Legislative Update