Please write or call your representatives; your efforts can make a difference.
Good morning library supporters.
Thank you for your great work last week during PaLA Call-In Week. Without question, our message is being heard and it is your determination and commitment that makes the difference. Our challenge now is keep up the pressure for as long as it takes.
As you probably know, face-to-face budget negotiations are underway. Unfortunately all signs point toward an extended process before agreement will be reached. More on those details a bit later. For now, please know this: The library message IS GETTING THROUGH.
Just today, library funding was one of only three education topics discussed at
the House-Senate Conference Committee. Over the last two weeks, libraries
were frequently mentioned during floor debate in both the House and
Senate. What’s more, in an interview that aired yesterday (July 30) on the
cable channel, PCN, Governor Rendell discussed libraries at length describing
them as “lifelines for our communities” and “lifelines for our kids.” It seems now that libraries are a frequent topic in budget meetings, news accounts, and on TV. This is a very positive and encouraging sign and it’s all because YOU are doing a magnificent job making the case for our libraries.
Action Needed:
(1) Message
(2) Budget Deal Makers
(3) Q&A Background
MESSAGE
Keep the pressure on. Recruit any and every library supporter, young and old, to write a note, place a call, attend a town meeting, or send an email. Even if you’ve written before, this process is so long that a second or third message is A-OK. From this point forward, our basic message—asking that libraries be a priority for level funding in any final budget deal—remains in place but the delivery strategy
changes just a bit.
1. Thank your Senator, Representative and the Governor for her/his past support of public libraries.
2. Because libraries are a lifeline for the unemployed and their families, urge her/him to support library funding as one of the priorities for level funding in the negotiations for a new state budget.
3. Tell her/him that public libraries all across Pennsylvania are busier than ever during this recession serving those looking for work, many without Internet access at home, and hundreds more of their constituents and families who need the library open more hours not fewer. (If you can, offer some specifics about just how
much the library means to you in these tough times.)
4. Remind her/him that the drastic, steep cuts (55%) included in the Senate amendments to the budget bill will force library closings and service cutbacks at a time when their constituents need libraries to be fully open and equipped to serve.
5. Inform her/him that Pennsylvania stands to lose between $1.9 million and $4.3 million in federal money if any of the budget plans currently under consideration pass with deep cuts in library funding.
6. If your State Senator or State Representative is on the list below (“Top 10 State Budget Deal Makers”), urge her/him to support libraries as a priority for level funding in the conference committee budget negotiations.
7. For everyone else whose Senator and State Representative is not on the Top 10 list below, the message is slightly different. You should urge your Senator and Representative to contact the budget negotiators from their caucus and urge them, in turn, to make libraries a priority for level funding in any final budget deal.
8. When you contact the Governor, urge him to make level funding for library services a priority in keeping with his strong commitment to education, to the unemployed, and to Pennsylvania’s children.
STATE BUDGET DEAL MAKERS
Here are the Top 10 State
Budget Deal Makers:
1. Representative Dwight Evans (D) Philadelphia—Budget Conference Committee member
2. Representative Todd Eachus (D) Luzerne Co. —Budget Conference Committee member
3. Representative Sam Smith (R) Jefferson Co. —Budget Conference Committee
member
4. Senator Dominic Pileggi (R) Delaware Co. —Budget Conference Committee
member
5. Senator Jake Corman (R) Centre Co. —Budget Conference Committee
member
6. Senator Jay Costa (D) Allegheny Co.—Budget Conference Committee member
7. Senator Joseph Scarnati (R) Jefferson Co—President of the
Senate
8. Representative Keith McCall, (D) Carbon—Speaker of the House of
Representatives
9. Senator Robert Mellow (D) Lackawanna—Senate Minority (D) Floor Leader
10. Representative Mario Civera (R) Delaware—House Minority (R) Appropriations chair
If your Senator or Representative is on this list, urge her/him to make libraries a priority for level funding in the next state budget.
If not on this list, urge them to support libraries and ask them to contact the negotiators from their own caucus to urge for level funding for libraries.
If you’re not sure who represents you, following this link and type in your zip code in the upper right-hand corner: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/index.cfm.
Q&A
BACKGROUND
Here’s some additional Q&A that you should know for advocacy
in the immediate future:
Q. Since the budget debate is now in a small committee, what’s the point of contacting my State Senator and Representative?
A. The six main budget negotiators will listen to the priorities advocated by their colleagues. The more such pressure we can garner for libraries, the better.
Q. What is the difference in approach between the two sides?
A. In brief, the Governor and Democrats first want to establish priorities and needs for the state and then figure out how much money is needed. The Republicans prefer first to establish how much money is likely to be available in the next year and then fit spending priorities within that revenue total.
Q. What is the difference in dollars between the two sides?
A. Most analysts believe that the sides are between $800 million and $1.6 billion apart, a sizable gap.
Q. Regardless of what happens in the budget conference committee, aren’t we going to be stuck with either the 15% cut in the Democratic plan or the 55% cut in the Republican plan?
A. No! Absolutely, positively, not. The budget conference committee can choose any amounts in the final budget. That’s why keeping up the pressure on behalf of libraries is so crucial.
Q. What is all this talk about a stopgap or “bridge” budget?
A. On Tuesday, August 4, the House will OK the Senate-passed budget bill (S.B. 850) and send it to the Governor but only as a stopgap/bridge vehicle NOT as a state budget. When the bill hits the Governor’s desk, he then promises to use his line-item veto authority to eliminate all program amounts leaving only the budget lines needed to keep state government open and insure that state workers get paid.
As always, thank you so much for your amazing resilience and great energy. Our chances for a better outcome increase if we can keep the consistent message coming from all directions from many people for as long as it takes.
And one last thing to remember throughout—a cut of 55% is not “sharing the pain” but, in fact, shouldering the burden. Why libraries, which represent three-tenths
of one percent (0.3%) of the entire state budget, face cuts of 55 percent is beyond comprehension. But more to the point, libraries are the emergency room for the unemployed and their families, and we are busier than ever. Forcing libraries to close during these hard times simply slams the door of opportunity shut in the faces of thousands and thousands of Pennsylvanians who need open libraries to find work, apply for work, and gain professional advice and training for their job search. And this is why level funding is needed and justified, even in a bad economy.
We’ll do our best to keep you updated through email and our website, and we expect to add some new advocacy tools very soon. Stay tuned.
Glenn
Glenn R. Miller
Executive
Director
Pennsylvania Library Association
220 Cumberland Parkway, Suite
10
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania 17055
phone:
717-766-7663
fax: 717-766-5440
e-mail: glenn@palibraries.org
