Colorado Governor Vetos
State Grants for Libraries Act
Colorado Governor Bill Owens vetoed a bill June 2 that would have provided $2 million in state grant money to public, academic, and school libraries for books, magazines, and online databases that they “would otherwise be unable to afford.”
Owens had threatened to veto the State Grants for Libraries Act after its passage on April 28 unless an amendment mandating Internet filters was attached. Colorado State Director of Library Development Katherine Brown told American Libraries that the bill’s sponsors had then informed the governor’s staff that the grants were not intended for computers or Internet access.
“Parents have a right to expect that when their children visit public libraries, they will not be subject to violence, hate, and pornography,” Owens told the June 3 Denver Rocky Mountain News. The Internet is “a tremendous resource of information and communication, but one that contains both the sacred and profane,” he said.
Sen. Bill Thiebaut (D-Pueblo) told reporters the bill “has nothing to do with the Internet. That is like saying we are not going to repair the streets in Pueblo because we don’t like drunk drivers.”
Brown said the Colorado Library Association’s legislative committee will meet this summer to plan an approach for an acceptable bill next session.
Posted June 7, 1999.
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