What is Senate Bill 167?

(UPDATE: April 14, 2022)

• Thank you to our patrons and library supporters across the Commonwealth. Unfortunately, your voices weren’t heard. Your impassioned requests to your elected representatives about the importance of public libraries remaining politically neutral were ignored. We’d like to provide due diligence and request documentation of the thousands of calls from across the Commonwealth to lawmakers, but wouldn’t you know – your elected officials passed laws in 2021 exempting the General Assembly from Open Records requests. A special thank you to those legislators who did listen, those who spoke up, fought the good fight and understand the consequences of this bill.
• Senate Bill 167 failed twice. It was vetoed by Governor Beshear on April 8 who said it would politicize libraries by letting elected county leaders appoint whomever they want to library boards and block spending for major projects.
• Beshear’s veto was sustained Wednesday when the veto override in the House failed by three votes. The veto was overridden in the Senate hours earlier. Not being satisfied with the veto failure politics came into play and the House moved to reconsider its decision from the previous night. Several representatives changed their votes from their decision the night before. Do with that what you will. The governor’s veto was overridden by 2 votes (52-to-39).
• The sponsoring Senator Phillip Wheeler took a celebratory lap around the chamber floor and paused at the end with double Vs for “victory.”
• What does this mean for libraries across the state? What does it mean for this library? We’ll keep doing what we do as librarians. We’ll fight for freedom of information. We’ll fight to service everyone without censorship or discrimination. We’ll continue to provide social, intellectual, and cultural opportunities; especially in underserved areas. But eventually the effects of this bill will be insidious. Eventually the trickledown effect of political agendas, greed, and power will make its way into our doors, onto our boards, into our budgets, onto our shelves, into our ability to fund programs, into our capability to retain and hire qualified staff, and into our ability to maintain and expand our facilities and services.
• When that day comes, thank the elected officials who ignored you. Thank the elected officials who undervalue libraries. Follow the money. Remember, it’s all about “accountability and transparency.”
• Until then, a new day dawns. We’ll order books, feed hungry children, service the elderly and homebound, foster literacy and learning, preserve our history, and love our communities; because that’s what we do.

Sources:
Lexington Herald Leader
Courier Journal
Photo Credit: Lexington Herald Leader
Link to the Bill: https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/22rs/sb167.html

CLICK HERE to listen to local elected officials speak against the library. 

(UPDATE: March 14, 2022: Senate Bill 167 passed the Senate 20-10 on Friday, March 11, 2022 . The bill will move to the House of Representatives. Advocacy efforts must continue.) 

SB 167 would give County Judge Executives the sole authority to select library trustees. Why?

• Library trustees should be selected for their ability to further the mission of libraries, not as a reward for supporting a political candidate. Public libraries are non-partisan and must remain so. This bill threatens essential community places where information can be exchanged freely and community may be fostered between people of every race, every ethnicity, and every class, and political viewpoint.

SB 167 will give county governments the ability to re-appropriate library revenue for other purposes, including funding facilities for non-governmental entities. Why?

• Revenue raised for public libraries should be used for public libraries, not misdirected to provide facilities for use by other “educational institutions.” At a minimum, there must be a clear guarantee that this bill will not allow tax dollars to benefit private, partisan institutions. Tax dollars must serve taxpayers.

SB 167 will create havoc for communities in January 2023 by allowing (or possibly requiring—the language is unclear) County Judge Executives to replace an entire library board at once. Why?

• The wholesale ending of terms of currently-serving library board members on January 1, 2023, would create havoc for the operations of 118 public libraries in the Commonwealth. If the intent of this bill is really accountability, why is it necessary to remove all board members at once?

SB 167 creates operational requirements for public libraries that are NOT being implemented for other Special Purpose Governmental Entities. Why?

• If the supporters of this bill were truly concerned about accountability, they would be making changes to all SPGEs, and only making changes that improve accountability. This bill is about County Judge Executives wanting to seize control of public libraries across the state and redirect library funding approved by voters to causes that voters have not approved and will have no say in until it is too late to stop it.

SB 167 could make it nearly impossible for any public library to build a new facility wince it will require a unanimous vote of the Library board of Trustees, all of whom will have been appointed by the County Judge Executive.

• This bill is not about improving accountability. It is an undisguised power grab intended to benefit a County Judge Executive and a State Senator in 2 very specific circumstances. It is not in the best interests of public libraries or Kentuckians at large. It is terrible governance and needs to be exposed as such.

Call the Legislative Message Line at 1-800-372-7181 and tell your Senator to vote no on SB167.