2021 Library-Related Legislation

Legislative Committee Roster | Library-Related Legislation | WA Library Legislative Week

WLA actively pursues a legislative agenda that presents the interests of its members through a legislative planning committee and a contract government relationship representative who works with the Washington State Legislature. WLA's lobbyist is Carolyn Logue.

WLA 2021 Legislative Wrap-Up

2021 Legislative Session is One for the History Books | Carolyn Logue

The 2021 legislative session was one for the history books in many ways. The completely virtual legislative session led to more public participation in legislative hearings but less transparency when it came to negotiating big policy issues such as climate change and the budget. While legislators were originally worried about budget deficits, the final budget reality revealed over $3 billion in additional revenue for the state and an impressive$8 billion from the federal government for COVID-19 pandemic relief. This resulted in a budget that increased from $52 billion in 2019-21 to nearly $60 billion for 2021-2023.

Read the full article.

WLA Legislative Agenda 2021

Olympia Capitol Building WLA remains ready to fight for library budgets, school libraries, peer reviewed journal access, expanded broadband, digital equity, media literacy, and more. We are focused on and clearly recognize the budget challenge that will be faced as organizations begin to reopen. Looking for last year's library-related legislation? View it here.

WLA will focus the 2021 Legislative Agenda on things that we know benefit our communities. School library information technology programs provide the resources and infrastructure for digital learning for students, academic libraries assist with the same in the higher education environment, and public libraries provide broadband, workforce, business assistance, and other connections for the state’s citizens. All of these put libraries at the forefront of our state’s economic recovery. Working with legislators and ensuring that our legislative asks reflect this bigger picture will be very important. Ensuring that libraries are able to get the resources they need to provide these important services will be very important.