Who controls your city library? New Idaho law rewrites director hiring, firing
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Gov. Little signs law giving city councils final say over hiring/firing library directors.
- The law, now in effect, applies to 55 city-run libraries, but not independent districts.
- Supporters praise accountability to elected officials; critics fret political overreach.
A new Idaho law will soon grant city councils the ultimate say over hiring and firing library directors in 55 city-run libraries across the state.
Signed into law by Gov. Brad Little on Thursday, the legislation requires cities with municipal libraries to gain City Council approval for these staffing decisions, an authority previously held exclusively by library boards. A similar bill introduced last legislative session would’ve given cities the choice of where to place that power.
This year’s bill sailed through both chambers of the Legislature in March, despite pushback from some lawmakers and librarians who feared it could expose library director positions to political overreach or give officials with less expertise too heavy a hand.
“My email has been flooded with librarians who believe that the current system is best, because (board members) are the people who understand and should be making those decisions,” Sen. Monica Church, D-Boise, said in a House committee hearing on Feb. 24.
Heather Stout, a Latah County resident who said she had “worked in libraries for years,” testified at the hearing that the bill “completely changes the role of the director.”
“Instead of following the library policy put forth by the library board of trustees, the director would also have to answer to the city council. This causes the director to have two sets of bosses,” she said. “This is government overreach and yet another attempt to bypass local control.”
Rep. Jeff Cornilles, R-Nampa, who introduced the bill, said that library boards would still be in charge of making hiring and firing recommendations, while elected officials would get the final bite at the apple. He said that the same process exists for other departments in some cities, such as police departments.
According to the wording of the bill, a library board would need majority approval from a city council for these staffing decisions.
Cornilles said the bill was prompted by concerns from one city, but “pointed to a problem that we don’t want to be a problem for the whole rest of the state.”
“Before, again, the city could not hire or fire their own employee, which is an issue, so this just simply fixes that,” he said. “That’s all we’re doing.”
He did not say which city he was referencing, nor respond to questions from the Idaho Statesman about the intent of the bill.
Bill’s predecessor gave cities discretion in hiring, firing
The law is set to go into effect on July 1. It only affects city-run libraries, like those in Boise and Eagle, and not independent library districts.
Its easy victory came in contrast to the path of a similar bill Cornilles brought forth in 2025, which never made it out of committee. That bill would have given cities the option to keep hiring and firing authority vested with their library boards or transfer it to their city councils.
Eagle city officials said last year they supported the bill but had no intention to use it to fire the library director.
In an email to the Statesman on Friday, Eagle City Council Member Mary May said she supported the opt-in language of the previous bill but believed that “the overriding issue was including the elected representatives in the decision-making process, which this legislation does.”
“The previous process afforded no opportunity for the city to weigh in on the selection or termination of a city employee,” she said.
She noted that library boards would still need to initiate director hiring and firing.
“I think it is good legislation that strikes a much-needed balance in the hiring decisions for library directors in city-run libraries,” May said. “These director-level positions are city employees, funded by taxpayer dollars, so oversight by the directly elected representatives on the city council is appropriate.”
Representatives from the governor’s office did not respond to an email Friday requesting comment.
This story was originally published March 30, 2026 at 3:07 PM.
