ATHENS COUNTY, Ohio — Library systems across the state — including Athens County Public Libraries — are urging patrons to ask Governor Mike DeWine to line-item veto provisions in the state budget proposed by the Ohio Legislature.
House Bill 96, the 2026–2027 biennial state budget, is heading for Gov. DeWine’s desk for approval. On Wednesday, June 25, the Athens County Public Libraries, alongside the Ohio Library Council, publicly urged supporters to call the governor to encourage him to line-item veto provisions in the bill. Line-item vetoes allow the governor to reject specific provisions of a bill, while approving the rest.
“This is a new, broader call to action — just to contact the governor, and not your other elected officials,” communications officer of Athens County Public Libraries Becca Lachman told the Independent.
Specifically, library systems are concerned about provisions that could make funding less stable and limit access to LGBTQ+ holdings.
Funding concerns
The bill will make funding for public libraries less stable, library advocates warn. HB 96 turns the public library fund into a line item in Section 387.10.
“Beginning for fiscal year 2026, the bill no longer dedicates 1.70% share of GRF [General Revenue Fund] tax revenue to the Public Library Fund (PLF), instead funding public libraries through a direct GRF appropriation ($490 million in FY 2026 and $500 million in FY 2027),” according to an analysis from the HB 96 Conference Committee.
According to the Ohio Library Council, that’s ultimately about $25 million less than would be available to libraries in FY2026 through the Public Library Fund.
Historically, Public Library Fund money is apportioned to each county around the state. Athens County received $2.3 million in FY2024, ACPL Fiscal Officer Hannah King wrote.
“In 2024, the state, through the public library fund, distributed $481,200,832 to Ohio libraries,” King wrote.
According to ACPL Director Nick Tepe, changes threaten the stability of library funding.
“The larger issue is that, because of this being a line item, instead of being statutory, that means that every two years there’s a chance that — not only the legislature might take it away from us — a future governor might veto [funding for libraries],” Tepe said.
That would make it harder to plan big program expansions, Tepe said. Plus, “Our costs, like everybody else, have gone up,” he added.
Libraries, particularly in Athens County, also rely on local property taxes levies — which some Ohioans are seeking to eliminate via ballot initiative.
Tepe said there’s also “language in the budget that would allow the county budget commissions to arbitrarily reduce the millage of currently running levies, if they determine that funds are excessive or unnecessary.”
However, Tepe doesn’t think the Athens County Budget Commission would cut levies to reduce taxes.
Athens County Auditor Jill Davidson told the Independent in an email on Thursday, “To date, there have been no discussions or comments raised during our meetings about this particular provision or about reducing levies for any taxing authority, including those supporting public libraries.”
Impact on LGBTQ+ holdings
In addition to impacting funding, the bill would also require libraries to hide books from children and limit library displays.
Section 3375.47 of HB 96 says public libraries “shall place material related to sexual orientation or gender identity or expression in a portion of the public library that is not primarily open to the view of persons under the age of eighteen.”
That specific line “goes against the mission of public libraries from the very beginning, which is to serve the whole community,” Lachman said.
“I’m hopeful that he will make some vetoes, and I am hopeful that he will listen to that part of himself that has been extremely supportive of Ohio libraries up until this point,” Lachman said.
Myca Roberts, librarian at The Plains Public Library, said he is also hopeful. Roberts has contacted Gov. DeWine through the contact form on ohio.gov.
Roberts and other librarians want the line vetoed because they “believe parents are the ones that know what’s best for their individual children, and that it should be the right and the responsibility of the parent to decide what their child should have access to in the library,” Roberts said.
Roberts recounted a time a patron commented they were glad the library had a book display for Trans Day of Visibility, but Roberts, regretfully, told them such displays might not be legal for much longer.
The Ohio Library Council is also concerned about the time, money and space it would take to completely arrange libraries to keep certain books away from children.
“It would involve library staff having to do some form of review of materials in order to determine if they meet the standards of this law,” Tepe said.
He said ACPL administrators will seek legal opinion to interpret the language of the bill, if and when it is passed.
The Ohio Library Council has a call to action to contact the governor about provisions in the bill on its website.
Rep. Kevin Ritter and Sen. Brian Chavez could not be reached before publication. Rep. Ritter and Sen. Chavez both voted to pass Bill 96.
Renae Hefty is a junior at Ohio University. Hefty is a summer 2025 intern at Athens County Independent, with support from the Nonprofit Newsroom Internship Program created by the Scripps Howard Fund and the Institute for Nonprofit News.
