Interim Budget Committee Reports

During each legislative session, legislators identify issues they want to study in more depth. They appoint interim committees to conduct these and other studies during the interim between sessions. Legislators use what they learn from the interim studies to make well-informed decisions about what bills to consider during the next session.

Screenshot of Hot Spot Dashboard, September 1, 2023

Fiscal Year 2024 Interim Reports

In September 2023 and 2024, MSL will report to the Education (Section E) Interim Budget Committee about the hot spot lending program.

Hot Spot Lending Program

Montana State Library is collecting information about the hot spot lending program. This information will be used to fulfill interim reporting requirements as described in House Bill 946:

Section 1. Montana state library report to education interim budget committee. (1) The Montana state library shall report on its hot spot program activities to the education interim budget committee provided for in 5-12-501 by September 1, 2023.

(2) The Montana state library shall report on the following items to the education interim budget committee provided for in 5-12-501 by September 1, 2024:
(a) library deployment locations;
(b) the comparison of rural and urban deployment locations;
(c) hot spot usage measured by gigabytes for each device and by library; and
(d) verification that any commercial activity usage of the hot spots is consistent with library policy.
(3) These reports must be provided in a digital and printed format to the committee.

Montana Real Time Network

Montana State Library continues to report on the progress of Montana's real time network, the Montana State Reference Network (MTSRN). Reports include status updates on the following topics pertaining to the real time network:

Administrative rules
Enterprise fund
Process to collect fees from subscribers
FTE created through Senate Bill 60
Outreach
Collaboration between Montana State Library (MSL) and Montana Department of Transportation (MDT)
Objectives