JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri lawmakers late Thursday evening moved to strip state funding from public libraries in retaliation for a lawsuit challenging a new state law that bans certain materials in school libraries.
The proposal, approved close to midnight by the House Budget Committee, would cut the entire $4.5 million in state aid that libraries were slated to get next year. The proposed library cut, along with other changes to the state’s roughly $50 billion budget, will now head to the full Missouri House.
“They are seeking to overturn that law that was unanimously supported by the House,” said state Rep. Cody Smith, a Carthage Republican and chair of the committee who proposed the cut. “I don’t think we should subsidize that.”
