Call Your Legislators and Urge Them to Support Library Funding in the Michigan FY2026 Budget!

Last week, the Michigan House of Representatives approved an omnibus budget bill, HB 4706, for fiscal year 2026. Now with less than a month before a signed state budget is due, the budget process is entering its final, most critical phase: reconciling major differences in Michigan's budget across Chambers and the Governor’s office. 

In June, the House’s spending plan for the Michigan Department of Education (MDE), which includes funding for the Library of Michigan, HB 4576, passed without a line item for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). LSTA funds are federal dollars provided annually to the Library of Michigan by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

If the final version of the state budget does not include an LSTA line item, the Library of Michigan cannot spend federal funds already awarded and earmarked for critical statewide programs like the Michigan eLibrary (MeL) and the Michigan eLibrary Catalog (MeLCat).

Despite MLA’s advocacy to House Appropriation Chairs over the summer urging them to include the LSTA line item, the MDE budget has been stalled in negotiations as part of the broader state budget impasse. 

Michigan’s legislature returned to work today and will spend the next several weeks in intense negotiations. Now is the time to contact your Senators and Representatives and urge them to add the LSTA line item back into the MDE budget! 

Call Your Legislators

As a constituent, your voice matters most to your locally elected officials. We encourage you to make a personal call to both your Representative's and Senator's offices TODAY. 

• Urge them to voice support for the LSTA line item in a final state budget. 
• Encourage them to talk to appropriations leadership about the importance of this funding.
• Highlight that this $5.6 million of federal money supports widely used programs like MeL and MeLCat, which provide a $26.96 return on investment for every $1 spent.
• Remind them of the widespread support across Michigan: 78% of respondents in a recent statewide poll said that IMLS funding from the federal government should remain as part of the federal budget, and Michigan can only access those funds if the LSTA line item is included in the state budget.

Without the ability to spend allocated IMLS dollars, vital statewide programs like MeL and MeLCat are at serious risk. In 2024, MeLCat loaned over 1 million items between nearly 400 participating libraries in every corner of the state. Also in 2024, MeL – which includes 75+ databases that provide homework help, workforce skills, training, eBooks, and more – saw 19.2 million articles accessed by Michiganders. These programs provide a hard return on investment of $26.96 for every $1 spent.

The statewide poll commissioned by MLA in June 2025 gives us a clear picture of public support for continued IMLS funding: 78% of respondents said that IMLS funding from the federal government should remain as part of the federal budget. While the Library of Michigan received notice of full federal funding through the state fiscal year 2026, Michigan’s legislature must first approve a budget allocating those dollars to the appropriate state department.

We have a very short window to act. Please share this message with your colleagues, trustees, and other library advocates. Your voice is essential in communicating the importance of including the LSTA line-item in the MDE budget! Legislators pay attention to voters in their district. We encourage you to make a personal call to both your Representative's and Senator's offices TODAY. 

Find your Michigan State legislators and their contact information on the websites of the Michigan House and Senate:

Find Your Michigan State Senator

Find Your Michigan State Representative 

Thank you for taking action to support Michigan’s libraries. Your outreach to Representatives and Senators is critical to influencing the budget process—your emails and phone calls can make a difference.