Legislative Bulletin #2
N.M.L.A. LEGISLATIVE DAY IS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2ND.
Bills Introduced
The Legislative Session begins Tuesday at Noon. However, legislators now
have the ability to pre-file legislation in advance of the session. Among
the 147 bills posted to the Legislative website is Senate Bill 66, which
provides for three general obligation bond issues. The text of the library
bond portion has the language that the NMLA Legislation Committee provided
to the Legislative Finance Committee and the Legislative Council Service.
The allocations for the three bonds are:
Senior Citizen Facilities – $ 12,015,000
Libraries – $ 9,830,000
Higher Education Facilities – $ 159,000,000 (includes “special schools”)
Total $ 180,845,000
These amounts are subject to change during the legislative process. The
amounts include the cost of selling the bonds.
SENATE BILL 66 GENERAL OBLIGATION BOND PROJECTS
50th legislature – STATE OF NEW MEXICO – second session, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Carlos R. Cisneros
B. for library acquisitions and capital improvements at public libraries,
public school libraries, academic libraries and tribal libraries statewide:
(1) to the cultural affairs department:
(a) seven hundred thousand dollars ($700,000) for
equipment and supplemental library resource acquisitions, including print,
non-print and electronic resources, and for planning, designing and
constructing capital improvements to include library facilities for tribal
libraries statewide; and
(b) three million dollars ($3,000,000) for equipment
and supplemental library resource acquisitions, including print, non-print
and electronic resources, for non-tribal public libraries statewide;
(2) to the higher education department, three million
dollars ($3,000,000) for library resource acquisitions, including books,
equipment, resources and collaborative library resources and information
technology projects, for academic libraries statewide; and
(3) to the public education department, three million
dollars ($3,000,000) for library resource acquisitions, including library
books, for public school libraries statewide;
Hearings:
David Giltrow, Larry Horan and Joe Sabatini attended the House
Appropriations and Finance Committee hearing on the Department of Cultural
Affairs budget request on Wednesday, January 11th. Among the legislators
who asked questions and offered support for library programs were Reps.
Jimmie Hall, Lucky Varela, Don Tripp, Larry Larranaga and Danice Picraux.
Chairman Kiki Saavedra asked the Department about the depleted staffing
levels at the State Library. Secretary Veronica Gonzales stated that the
Department had been given permission to proceed with critical position
hiring, and that several positions were in the process of being filled. New
State Librarian Devon Skeele had the opportunity to answer several
questions for committee members. Rep. Saavedra noted the presence of the
NMLA delegation in the audience.
Rep. Rhonda King questioned the Department about the level of funding for
statewide literacy programs, noting that it was half the level of several
years ago.
Here is a letter received from the New Mexico Coalition for Literacy which
we have been asked to share with the library community. A PDF sample letter
is attached.
Heather Heunermund, Executive Director
New Mexico Coalition for Literacy
3209 Mercantile Ct. Ste. B
Santa Fe, NM 87507
1-800-233-7587
505-982-4095 (fax)
heather@nmcl.org
Dear Friends:
I have located the detail on the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC)
recommendation for FY13 and it states that, “Funding for the New Mexico
Coalition for Literacy for FY13 remains flat at $325 thousand.” I am still
in the process of obtaining the detail for the Executive recommendation.
Please continue to advocate for restored funding for adult literacy with
the Legislative Finance Committee and then the Full House and Senate.
Please ask your boards, tutors, and students to do the same.
I have attached the legislative letter sample that you may use to make your
case again, for ease of reference. If you need me to resend the
informational documents, please just let me know, as the file size is a bit
large. The tutors and students should write from their own perspectives
about the importance of one-to-one tutoring.
The LFC can be found here (just click the name of your Rep./Senator for
his/her contact info):
http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/committeedisplay.aspx?CommitteeCode=ALFC
You can find all of your Rep. and Senators here:
http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/legislatorsearch.aspx
This is an emergency!
As always, thanks for your help! We understand how desperately this funding
is needed at the local level.
Heather
Joe Sabatini, Co-Chair
NMLA Legislation Committee
Related posts:
Category: Legislative Update
