Missouri House Republicans voted to defund all of the state’s public libraries, in a proposed $45.6 billion state budget that will soon move to a vote in the GOP-controlled state Senate.
The Missouri House debated for over eight hours last Tuesday on a budget that is roughly $2 billion less than the one Gov. Mike Parson (R) proposed last January, cutting not only the $4.5 million Parson had slated for libraries, but also costs for diversity initiatives, childcare and pre-kindergarten programs.
Missouri House budget committee leader Rep. Cody Smith (R-Carthage) proposed cutting library aid due to a recent lawsuit filed against the state last February.
The lawsuit — filed by the ACLU of Missouri on behalf of the Missouri Association of School Librarians and the Missouri Library Association — seeks to declare Senate Bill 775 unconstitutional, a bill that has resulted in over 300 books getting banned from school libraries, many of which include LGBTQ characters or racial justice themes….
…“Library funding is guaranteed in the MO constitution,” the group wrote on Twitter. “This tactic, meant to bully MLA into submission, instead directly harms public libraries who rely on those funds, especially the smaller, more rural libraries.”
Approved ~ Primus Pilus
james blue
Article URL : https://heartlandsignal.com/2023/04/11/missouri-house-republicans-vote-to-defund-libraries/