NORWICH, Conn. (AP) — The U.S. State Department has ordered some public libraries across the country to stop processing passport applications, disrupting a longstanding service that librarians say their communities have come to rely on and that has run smoothly for years.
The agency, which regulates U.S. passports, began issuing cease-and-desist orders to nonprofit libraries in late fall, informing them that they are no longer authorized to participate in the Passport Acceptance Facility program starting Friday.
“We still get calls every day looking for this service,” said Cathleen Special, executive director of the Otis Library in Norwich, Conn., where passport services were offered for 18 years but ceased in November after receiving the letter. “Our community has been so used to us offering this.”
A State Department spokesman said the order was issued because federal law and regulations “clearly prohibit nongovernmental organizations” from collecting and withholding fees for a passport application. Government-run libraries are not affected.
The spokesperson did not respond to questions about why it has become an issue now and exactly how many libraries are affected by the cease and desist order. In a statement, they said, “Passport Services has more than 7,500 acceptance facilities nationwide and the number of libraries found ineligible represents less than 1% of our total network.”
The American Library Association estimates that about 1,400 public libraries, mostly not-for-profit, could be affected nationally, or about 15 percent of all public libraries, depending on how many offer passport services.
Democratic and Republican members of Congress from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Maryland are pushing back, sending a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio this month asking him to extend the existing program until Congress finds a permanent solution.
“At a time when the demand for passports is increasing, libraries are among the most accessible passport acceptance facilities, especially for working families and rural residents,” the members wrote.
The lawmakers’ letter said people would have to travel long distances, take unpaid leave from work or forgo getting a passport when demand increases because of Real ID requirements. If Republicans in Congress impose strict new voting rules, citizens may need their passports or birth certificates to register. People who fear immigration agents are also increasingly carrying passports to confirm their citizenship.
They said the change is particularly disruptive for their states, where many public libraries are structured as nonprofit entities. They predicted that some libraries, which benefit financially from passport processing fees, will have to lay off staff, cut programs or close their doors if they are not allowed to continue providing passport services.
Public libraries are organized differently in each state. In Pennsylvania, 85% of public libraries are non-profit organizations, as opposed to being a department of a local municipal government. In Maine, it’s 56%; Rhode Island, 54 percent, New York, 47 percent and Connecticut, 46 percent, according to the American Library Association.
Pennsylvania Representatives Madeleine Dean, Democrat, and John Joyce, Republican, have proposed bipartisan legislation that would allow non-profit 501(c)(3) public libraries to continue serving as passport-accepting facilities by amending the Passport Act of 1920. A similar companion bill is pending in the Senate.
Dean, who first learned of the policy change from a library in her district that has provided passport services for 20 years, called the State Department’s interpretation of the law “nonsense.”
In rural Joyce County in south-central Pennsylvania, the Marysville-Rye Library is one of two passport facilities serving 556-square-mile Perry County, according to the letter to Rubio. Now, the county court will be the only option left.
The State Department noted that 99% of the US population lives within 20 miles of a designated passport processing location, such as a post office, county clerk’s office, or government-run library authorized to accept passport applications in person.
“If the removal of an ineligible facility affects passport services, we will work to identify new eligible program partners in the affected area,” the agency spokesperson said.
But Special said Norwich Post Office often referred people to her library for passports when someone needed service outside normal hours or had children who needed to be watched and entertained while their parent filled out the paperwork. Library staff also helped applicants with language barriers.
“And now the onus is on them to do everything, and that’s hard for them,” she said of the post office down the street. “I don’t know how I keep up, to be honest, because it’s been such a popular service with us.”