[NFBMT] Montana Legislative Alert: NFB Newsline Funding

[d m gina]

This is good news.
Thanks for sharing.
Dar
Original message:
> Good morning, NFB of Montana Federationists.



> Here is the latest I know about the funding for NFB Newsline that has been
> requested.



> This is part of the big funding bill that is HB 2, the General Appropriations
> Act, which passed its third reading as amended before the Senate, and was
> referred to the House with amendments.  On April 14, on the second reading
> before the House, the amendments didn't pass the House, so the bill was
> referred to a conference committee, which consisted of members appointed from
> the House and the Senate.  On April 21 there was a hearing before the Senate
> portion of the conference committee, and the bill is currently in the second
> House committee, non-tabled.



> In the meantime, the bill that has to do with NFB Newsline funding is now HB
> 632, which will implement receipt of and appropriate Federal stimulus and
> COVID recovery funds.  The portion having to do with NFB Newsline funding is
> on page 21 of the bill.  If it passes, as it stands now, NFB Newsline will be
> funded with American Rescue Plan Act funds to the tune of sixty thousand
> dollars a year for the next two years, for a total of 120 thousand, starting
> on July 1.



> HB 632 passed its third reading in the House and was referred to the Senate
> Finance and Claims Committee, after having passed its first reading in the
> Senate.  The committee concurred the bill as amended.  It passed its second
> and third reading before the House and was referred back to the Senate with
> amendments on April 15.



> As Jennie Stapp, state librarian, said in an email to me yesterday, "I fully
> expect this appropriation to remain in the bill as it's finalized.  We would
> like to work with NFB to put together an agreement that funds Newsline and
> the marketing and training described during budget testimony earlier in the
> session.  We will reach out to you when the bill is passed."



> So far, this looks like a go, and I congratulate the members of the NFB who
> have worked so hard to restore the funding for NFB Newsline.



> Joy Breslauer, First Vice President, and Advocacy and Public Policy Committee
> Chair

> National Federation of the Blind of Montana

> Web Site: http://www.nfbofmt.org <http://www.nfbofmt.org/>



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