Makes appropriations to the United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra for the statewide implementation of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library program. (BDR S-1092)
Summary
AB 358 appropriates General Fund money to the United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra to support statewide implementation of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Nevada. The bill provides separate funding for program costs and administrative costs over two fiscal years: $1,491,211 and $315,000 for FY 2025-2026, and $2,492,155 and $347,250 for FY 2026-2027. The appropriation is intended to expand the book-gifting program statewide, helping fund the delivery of free age-appropriate books to enrolled children.
The bill also imposes reporting and oversight requirements on the recipient organization. The United Way must submit interim and final expenditure reports to the Interim Finance Committee and make records available for audit by the Legislative Auditor upon request. Any unspent money must revert to the State General Fund by specified deadlines, and the appropriations are available for use in either fiscal year subject to the bill’s reversion rules. The act becomes effective July 1, 2025.
Impact
AB 358 would create a direct state appropriation to a nonprofit partner, the United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra, for a statewide early literacy initiative. It does not amend regulatory statutes, but it does affect state budget law by authorizing General Fund spending outside the Executive Budget for a specific program and by establishing conditions for expenditure, reporting, audit access, and reversion of unused funds. The bill primarily affects the recipient organization, the Interim Finance Committee, and the Legislative Auditor through oversight and accountability provisions.
Sentiment
The bill appears generally supportive and noncontroversial in concept, as it funds a widely recognized children’s literacy and school-readiness program. The available materials do not include committee testimony or recorded votes, so there is no documented opposition or formal debate in the provided record. Based on the bill text alone, the sentiment is favorable toward expanding access to books for young children statewide.
Contention
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided committee transcripts or vote history, because none were included. Potential areas of concern inherent in the bill are the size of the General Fund appropriation, the use of state money for a nonprofit-administered program, and the distinction between program and administrative costs. The bill addresses those concerns by requiring detailed expenditure reporting, audit access, and reversion of unspent funds.
A JOINT RESOLUTION directing the Department for Libraries and Archives and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to cooperate in exploring ways to increase enrollment in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Program.
Establishing the Statewide Imagination Library Program and the Imagination Library of Pennsylvania Restricted Account; and imposing duties on the Department of Education.
Directs the office of children and family services to establish Dolly Parton's statewide imagination library program for encouraging children from birth to five years of age, inclusive, to develop a love of reading and learning; directs the office of children and family services to promote the statewide development of local Dolly Parton's Imagination Library programs; advance and strengthen local Dolly Parton's Imagination Library programs with the goal of increasing enrollment; recruit volunteers to assist in the development, promotion, and coordination of local Dolly Parton's Imagination Library programs; solicit donations, gifts, and other funding to financially support local Dolly Parton's Imagination Library programs; develop community engagement; develop, promote, and coordinate a public awareness campaign to make donors aware of the opportunity to donate to the affiliate programs and make the public aware of the opportunity to register eligible children to receive books through the program; administer the local match requirement and coordinate the collection and remittance of local program costs for books and mailing; and develop statewide marketing and communication plans; establishes the imagination library of New York fund.
AN ACT to provide an appropriation for defraying the expenses of the North Dakota state university extension service, northern crops institute, upper great plains transportation institute, main research center, branch research centers, and agronomy seed farm; to provide for a report; to provide an exemption; and to declare an emergency.