Assembly Bill 2648 Defeated Thanks to Our Supporters!

Supporter Letters Help Defeat Assembly Bill 2648- Law Library Wins! To Supporters of the San Diego County Public Law Library: Most people think Friday the 13th is an unlucky day, but here at the San Diego County Public Law Library, it was our lucky day!! In his press release on that day, Governor Davis vetoed AB 2648, a bill which could have caused serious financial problems for us. The veto message, included below, made it clear that the Governor recognizes the need for healthy law libraries in California. Many of you wrote personal letters, made phone calls, and sent faxes and e-mails detailing how the Public Law Library serves you and what it would mean to you if we were to face severe financial hardship. We cannot thank you enough for taking the time to voice your support of us and our continuing efforts to provide access to legal materials to the community. On behalf of the Board of Trustees and the users of the Public Law Library, I want to thank you for your efforts to defeat this bill. For now, thanks to your support, the Public Law Library is safe and doing well. With Sincerest Thanks, Charles Dyer, Director of the San Diego County Public Law Library ****************************************************************** Governor's Veto Message To Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 2648 without my signature. This bill is intended to give the San Diego County Board of Supervisors more authority over county law library expenditures by granting the Board the right to review reimbursement claims submitted by the law library trustees and to reject any claims the Board deems outside the county's obligation to the law library. Current law already gives county supervisors discretion in funding law library operations and requires law library trustees to use law library fund monies, when available, toward maintenance costs. A law library is an essential component of any court facility, and the local court system would be seriously weakened without county support. This bill creates a poor precedent for counties to follow in providing support for county law libraries. Sincerely, GRAY DAVIS

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