Illinois libraries may be interested in two bills that passed both houses in the Illinois General Assembly’s Spring Session and have been sent to the Governor.
HB 5283 – Library Board Vacancies and Treasurer Appointments
If the Governor signs this bill, a board of trustees of a library district or a municipal library will now be required to fill a vacancy on the board within 90 days of the vacancy (currently, the statutes require these vacancies to be filled “forwith” without specifying a time-frame). For library districts, the legislation also would authorize the State Librarian to appoint someone to fill a board vacancy if the board of trustees of the library district fails to fill it within the 90 day statutory time-frame. The State Librarian will have 60 days after the board’s failure to appoint someone to fill the vacancy. The bill also provides that a board of trustees of a library district can choose to appoint a treasurer rather than elect one from among the trustees.
SB 3497 – Fee Waiver for Nonresident Minors
This legislation amends both the Local Library Act and the Library District Act so would apply to municipal libraries and library districts. If this bill is signed, a library board of trustees may adopt regulations that waive the nonresident fee that is otherwise applicable for persons under the age of 18. It’s important to note that this is not an automatic fee waiver, so individual library boards of trustees will have to decide whether they want to affirmatively adopt a regulation establishing the fee waiver.
