#sb 4

UPDATE 2/25/26: THIS ACTION IS NO LONGER NEEDED. Please find the update in our reblog.

This one goes out to every one of our cardholders we’ve jumpscared here on tumblr, anyone who’s ever said “Wait MY LIBRARY?? ON TUMBLR???”, and all the lurking Region Rats and other denizens of Indiana we know are out there:

The Indiana legislature is coming after library budgets (again).

SB 4 will be heard in the House on Monday, February 23. We need all of you, BEFORE MONDAY, to look up your House rep, give them a call, and let them know that this bill cannot pass without an amendment.

Here’s a script for you! And for those of you who hate making calls as much as we do, remember: it’s the weekend! You’re pretty much guaranteed to get a voicemail. No human interaction required.

Not from Indiana? No need to call, but we’d appreciate your reblog!

What’s the deal with this bill?

SB 4 is a large bill dealing with various fiscal matters into which language about library budgets has been inserted at the last moment. Supportive legislators promised libraries they would work to defeat this language when it was in SB 8, but when it was snuck into SB 4 at the last minute it slid right out of committee without challenge.

SB 4 removes important legal guardrails that prevent fiscal bodies from cutting library budgets by more than 10% in a given year. If this bill passes, library budgets could be cut swiftly and dramatically, even zeroed out entirely. I don’t need to tell you that there are certain groups who would love to see that happen.

In addition, last year Indiana passed SEA 1, which will lower property taxes in Indiana. This’ll be a hit to library budgets but no one—not us, not the legislators—knows the full impact of it yet. Adding the draconian measures of SB 4 to the unknown effects of SEA 1 is a bad recipe.

We’re not asking for SB 4 to die; there’s too much in it besides this sneaky library language to make that feasible. Instead, we’re asking for an amendment. We need our legislators to add language that would postpone the implementation of SB 4 until 2029, when we will all have a clearer picture of how badly libraries have been impacted by SEA 1. We also want them to put back the language preventing a fiscal body from decimating a library budget in one fell swoop.

All the details, plus links to find your rep and a script, are on the Indiana Library Federation’s call to action page. (Or you can just read them the last couple paragraphs, if you want.)

(Please note: Like many of you, we are a bit confounded by tumblr's latest update. If you have questions about this, the best way to get an answer is to send us a message or an ask - we can't guarantee we'll see your tags, replies, or reblogs as usual.)

First of all, a big thank you to everyone who read our original post and contacted their legislators to ask them to fix SB 4.

When last you heard from us, the Indiana House had passed SB 4 with an amendment to delay the implementation of this bill until 2029, when libraries would have a better understanding of the effects of SEA 1 (a bill passed in 2025 that lowers property taxes, and which has not yet taken full effect.)

Unfortunately, on the last day of session, the Indiana Senate stripped all library language from SB 4 and slipped it into another bill that was still in committee hearing: HB 1406. They added it to that bill without the amendment we worked so hard for.

HB 1406 then passed extremely quickly in the final hours of the legislative session, before anyone could protest.

As a result, the most strict, unfavorable version of this bill affecting library budgets is now law.

We'll put the details under a read more since this is a long post, but if you live in Indiana you'll want to read this as it will affect your library:

Here’s what that means for libraries in Indiana:

Finished this spread (ㅅ´ ˘ `)