LIBRARY DISTRICTS

I am the Senate sponsor of this House bill sponsored by Representative Karen Middleton. The bill clarifies the governance of library districts by refining some of the language in the law. Also, it requires the creation of maps of all library districts.

The bill was initiated by the Colorado Library Association (CLA). One reason the bill is needed is that more library districts have been created recently, and the vague wording of the existing law has become apparent and troublesome. The other reason is that there have been voters who were uncertain about which library district they lived in (if any), and they discovered that there are no maps of library districts available to the public. This bill will require the creation of maps for all library districts and “house” them at the Colorado Department of Education, which is the State Library.

The bill contained a provision in the introduced version that attempted to clarify how to deal with the creation of library districts when there are overlaps with cities or counties that have a library tax. That provision was removed when it was discovered that the problem is very complex and needs more time to figure out. The CLA will be working on that issue and may ask for a bill next year to clarify it.