If currently established library cooperatives no longer receive direct state aid to public libraries funds, would they be able to stay established as governmental entities?
As the model indicates, where possible, we would hope new state aid legislation would allow a phased implementation approach. Existing library cooperatives shall not be dissolved unless the statutory authorization for their existence is repealed, new statutory law dissolves them, or they elect to dissolve themselves. There are no plans to repeal the statutory authorization for library cooperatives currently in place. Nor is there any plan to enact new law to dissolve the existing library cooperatives. So long as an existing library cooperative continues to operate under the law that authorized its creation, and even if the library cooperative does not receive direct state funding through state aid, it would retain its status as a governmental unit and a municipal corporation for the duration of its existence as a legal entity because that was how it was originally established. Furthermore, library cooperatives would not be considered “unfunded mandates.” Operating and belonging to an e
