Thanks to the outcry from public library supporters like you, on Tuesday, April 9th, the House Finance Committee amended their budget bill to allocate additional funds to public libraries for fiscal years 2026 & 2027. While we appreciate the House’s initiative to adjust their funding proposal, projected totals still fall $90.8 million short of the Governor’s recommended funding for public libraries over the biennium.

Even more concerning, the amended House budget proposal does not address the elimination of the Public Library Fund as a percentage of the General Revenue Fund (a 1.7% commitment), replacing it with an arbitrary line-item appropriation.

Reassigning public library funding to a line-item appropriation introduces significant instability to ongoing library funding and makes it extremely vulnerable to changing political winds. Future Legislators could cut funding significantly, or simply decide not to appropriate any State funding at all to public libraries in Ohio!

With the House bill’s approval, the fight will move to the Senate, about which the April 8, 2025, issue of The Hannah Report states:

"Libraries should receive a specific appropriation from the General Assembly every two years instead of receiving a dedicated percentage of revenues," Senate Finance Chair Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) told reporters on Tuesday.

“I never liked the fixed percentage of revenues, because it goes up and down with the revenues,” Cirino said after participating in an Ohio Library Council (OLC) event at the Statehouse.

“I think like everybody else that we appropriate, it should be a biennial appropriation process that’s justified based on input and feedback that we get, not an automatic number,” he said.

The Ohio Library Council and Ohio Libraries continue to monitor the budget negotiations. As more information is released, we will keep patrons and the community updated.