Nonprofit libraries were ordered by the State Department to stop processing passport applications

NORWICH, Conn. (AP) — The U.S. State Department has ordered some public libraries across the country to stop processing passport applications, disrupting a long-standing service that librarians say their communities have come to rely on and that has been running smoothly for years.

The agency, which regulates U.S. passports, began issuing cease-and-desist orders to nonprofit bookstores in late fall, informing them that they were no longer authorized to participate in the Passport Acceptance Facilitation Program as of Friday.

“We still get calls every day requesting this service,” said Kathleen Special, executive director of the Otis Bookstore in Norwich, Conn., which had offered passport services for 18 years but stopped in November after receiving the letter. “Our community has been accustomed to providing this.”

A State Department spokesperson said the order was issued because federal law and regulations “clearly prohibit nongovernmental organizations” from collecting and retaining fees for passport applications. Government-run libraries are not affected.

The spokesperson did not respond to questions about why the order has become an issue now, and how many libraries have been affected by the cease and desist order. “Passport Services has more than 7,500 acceptance facilities nationwide, and the number of libraries found to be ineligible constitutes less than one percent of our total network,” they said in a statement.

The American Library Association estimates that about 1,400 mostly nonprofit public libraries across the country could be affected, or about 15% of all public libraries, depending on the number of libraries offering passport services.

Democratic and Republican members of Congress from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Maryland are opposed, sending a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio this month asking him to extend the current program until Congress finds a permanent solution.

“At a time when demand for passports is increasing, libraries are among the most accessible passport acceptance facilities, especially for working families and rural residents,” the members wrote.

People will have to travel long distances, take unpaid leave from work or forego obtaining a passport when demand increases due to REAL ID requirements, the lawmakers’ letter said. If Republicans in Congress impose strict new voting rules, citizens may need their passport or birth certificate to register. People who fear immigration agents also increasingly carry passports to confirm their nationality.

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They said the change is particularly troublesome for their states, where many public libraries are organized as nonprofit entities. They expect that some libraries, which benefit financially from passport processing fees, will be forced 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 nonprofit organizations, as opposed to being a department of a local municipal government. In Maine, the percentage is 56%. Rhode Island 54%, New York 47%, and Connecticut 46%, according to the American Library Association.

Pennsylvania Reps. Madeleine Dean, a Democrat, and John Joyce, a Republican, have proposed bipartisan legislation that would allow 501(c)(3) nonprofit public libraries to continue to operate 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 area that has been providing 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 Ray Library is one of only two passport facilities serving Perry County’s 556 square miles, according to the letter to Rubio. Now district court will be the only option left.

The State Department noted that 99% of the U.S. population lives within 20 miles of a designated passport processing location, such as a post office, county clerk’s office, or government-operated library authorized to accept in-person passport applications.

“If the removal of an ineligible facility impacts 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 its library for passports when someone needed service outside normal business hours or had children who needed to be monitored and entertained while their parents filled out paperwork. Library staff also helped applicants overcome language barriers.

“And now the burden is on them to do all that, and it’s hard for them,” she said of the post office down the street. “I don’t know how they keep up with that, to be honest, because it’s been such a popular service for us.”