SEND AN EMAIL: Restore the Budget for the Alabama State Library and Defend Your Right to Read
Tell the Alabama Senate to restore an 18% cut proposed by the House to the state library budget and remove language from the budget that would limit your right to read and use the library freely.
Alabama lawmakers want to punish those of us who dared to defend our libraries and our First Amendment rights. The House budget includes a proposed 18% cut to the state library's budget. This will negatively impact the state library's ability to support each and every public library in the state. And in a last-minute decision, the Alabama House snuck in a state budget amendment that would make state funding contingent on the Alabama Public Library Service adopting Gov. Kay Ivey’s proposed admin code changes - BEFORE THE PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD HAD ENDED. Alabama lawmakers had established this administrative process to be non-partisan and autonomous. But now bad-faith actors want to take that away.
This is wrong for Alabama libraries and the people they serve. Help push back against this budget cut and the legislature using the budget to punish Alabama citizens for using their constitutional right to criticize the government and protect their basic constitutional freedoms. We cannot let this stand. Please email your state senator now and tell them to restore the cuts to the state library, remove that language from the state budget, and let the public speak!
Let them know Alabamians will defend their rights and their libraries!