Author: Eric Edwards

Illinois House Bill 3796, which opponents argue would have severely restricted access to Freedom of Information Act-protected information, was vetoed by Governor Quinn on June 27. The bill had passed both houses of the General Assembly by an large margin (49-1 in the House, 77-36 in the Senate). The purpose of the legislation, according to…

The Illinois General Assembly just concluded its Spring 2014 session. A number of pieces of legislation affecting libraries, especially in terms of funding, were on the schedule. Among them were the following: House Bill 3793-funds capital appropriations for projects at specific libraries House Bill 3796-amends the Freedom of Information Act to allow individuals requesting large…

Please take note of Illinois House Bill 4207, which amends the Illinois School Code to cover cyberbullying to a greater extent than it already does. Specifically, the legislation would modify the “Bullying prevention” provision of the school code. Under the changes, bullying via computers, or other electronic devices, at a function that is not school-related…

The Illinois Library Association is calling for action on Illinois House Bill 3898, which modifies the Illinois Pension Code. Specifically, an amendment to the legislation eliminates the supplemental benefit payment-also referred to as the “13th payment”-from the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF). The payment is essentially deferred compensation intended to balance out the rising cost…

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…

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…

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…