[Michlib-l] Fwd: [alacro-l] ALA president urges Michigan governor to veto bill prohibiting access to information

[Warren, Leslie A]

SB 571 is getting national attention. Learn more at http://www.milibraries.org/mla-urges-governor-snyder-to-veto-sb-571/.

Leslie Warren
President, Michigan Library Association

-------------


Begin forwarded message:

From: Don Wood <dwood at ala.org<mailto:dwood at ala.org>>
Date: December 22, 2015 at 4:31:17 PM EST
To: "alacro-l at lists.ala.org<mailto:alacro-l at lists.ala.org>" <alacro-l at lists.ala.org<mailto:alacro-l at lists.ala.org>>
Subject: [alacro-l] ALA president urges Michigan governor to veto bill prohibiting access to information
Reply-To: Don Wood <dwood at ala.org<mailto:dwood at ala.org>>

For Immediate Release
Tue, 12/22/2015
Contact:
Marci Merola
Director
Office for Library Advocacy
American Library Association
312-280-2431
mmerola at ala.org<mailto:mmerola at ala.org>
CHICAGO - American Library Association (ALA) President Sari Feldman urges Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to veto a campaign reform bill that would ultimately impact Michigan residents' access to campaign information. Senate Bill 571 was passed on Dec. 16, with amendments from the House including a provision that bars government employees from using public funds to distribute information about a local ballot proposal 60 days before it appears on the ballot.

"While the intent of the Michigan legislature may be to ensure that government employees are proper stewards of public funding," said Feldman. "In actuality, this broad-sweeping bill prohibits one of their public bodies - the library - from doing one of its main jobs: providing the voters of Michigan unbiased access to information, including factual information about local campaigns and ballot measures. On behalf of librarians around the country, I urge the governor to veto this bill."

The provision in question is Item 3, Section 57, which states: "A public body, or a person acting for a public body, shall not, during the period 60 days before an election in which a local ballot question appears on a ballot, use public funds or resources for a communication by means of radio, television, mass mailing, or prerecorded telephone message if that communication references a local ballot question and is targeted to the relevant electorate where the local ballot question appears on the ballot." In addition, public employees violating this ruling could be fined anywhere from $1,000 to $20,000 and could be imprisoned. For more information, visit the Michigan Library Association, http://www.milibraries.org/mla-urges-governor-snyder-to-veto-sb-571/ .

The American Library Association<http://www.ala.org/> is the oldest and largest library association in the world, providing association information, news, events, and advocacy resources for members, librarians, and library users.



If you no longer wish to receive information via this e-list, here are the instructions on how to unsubscribe:

UNSUBSCRIBE INSTRUCTIONS:
* Go to http://lists.ala.org/sympa/info/alacro-l
* Log in on this page; first time users will need to get a password by following instructions
* Choose Unsubscribe from the left-hand column and follow instructions


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail3.mcls.org/pipermail/michlib-l/attachments/20151222/fc949ef0/attachment.html>