The Low-down on Libraries Lobbying
Submission Date
Question
Can a public library or library system use taxpayer revenue to engage in advocacy, hire a lobbyist, or pay dues to an organization doing advocacy/lobbying?
Answer
It can be a fact as shocking as learning that there are no “Berenstein Bears”:[1] a public library or library system—or even a town or a village—can engage directly in lobbying.
A public library, library system, or municipality can also join a membership organization that uses funds from its dues to engage in lobbying.[2]
Now, it is important to not confuse lobbying with political activity, political donations, electioneering, or telling regular voters (not lawmakers) how to vote on a particular item. Those are forbidden to any quasi-governmental organization, and all but the last one (telling voters how to vote[3]) are forbidden for association libraries and other private nonprofit organizations, too.
“Lobbying”—which any library organization of any type can do or pay another entity to do on its behalf—is an activity that is defined by state and federal law, and it means directly asking government officials for things,[4] such as:
- A budget item
- A new law
- A change to the law
- Voting against something
- Changing the enforcement or interpretation of something
Lobbying involves direct contact with a government official… not testimony at a hearing, not demonstrating in front of a building, and not attending an open meeting to make an ask or presentation (activities many people call “advocacy”).
For readers who are taking this in and having a Berenstain Bears Moment (“It can’t be true!”) about tax-funded entities lobbying, try this exercise: If an organization is lobbying or hiring lobbyists in New York, you can look up its reporting here. Search the database for “town” or “school district” and you will see many towns and other taxpayer-funded entities engaging in lobbying.
Basically, if a taxpayer-funded entity has decided that lobbying is in the best interests of the organization, the expenditure is legal.[5] As long as all the lobbying registration and reporting requirements are met and not too much money is spent on the lobbying, all will be well.[6]
So yes, a public library or library system can use budget moneys derived from taxpayer revenue to hire a lobbyist or pay dues to an organization doing advocacy/lobbying.
For more information on the difference between lobbying, political activity, advocacy, and gepvia,[7] please see this longer, more detailed RAQ.
[1] My husband, along with about half the world, was shocked to learn it is not “Berenstein” (like the composer Leonard Bernstein, but with an extra “e”). Perhaps because I was once a page who regularly had to put away The Berenstain Bears, I was mystified by this entire kerfuffle.
[2] See the 1980 New York Attorney General Opinion “N.Y. Comp. LEXIS 250, 1980 N.Y. Comp. LEXIS 250, 1980 N.Y. St. Comp. 136”
[3] There seems to be no unambiguous single term for this action, so I will call it “gepvia,” or “Government-Entity-Public-Vote-Influence Activity.” Courts have held gepvia to be forbidden by the New York State Constitution.
[4] There are a lot of specific inclusion and exclusions in the definitions of lobbying. We’ll tackle that in another Ask the Lawyer RAQ.
[5] So long as it is not made from a restricted fund, misappropriated, etc. You still have to follow the rules of how to spend money!