A parent-backed plan to keep children from accessing adult content in public libraries passed the Texas House with bipartisan support, but time is running short for senators to approve the Republican priority.
House Bill 3225 by State Rep. Daniel Alders (R–Tyler) would require municipal public libraries to move sexually explicit content out of sections for minors and verify that only adults check out the materials.
HB 3225 defines “sexually explicit material” and “sexual content” and applies the rules to both physical and digital library materials.
Librarians would be required to conduct annual reviews of all new materials added to sections for minors, as well as review specific materials upon request.
Public libraries that fail to comply would be ineligible for state library grants and could face penalties of up to $10,000 per violation under the prosecution of the attorney general.
The bill is endorsed by the Republican Party of Texas under the legislative priority Stop Sexualizing Texas Kids and has 57 Republican authors and co-authors.
Parents concerned about kids’ exposure to sexually explicit content spoke in favor of HB 3225 during a House committee hearing last month.
More than three dozen House Democrats voted against the measure.
Ahead of Saturday’s vote on the House floor, State Rep. Erin Zwiener (D–Driftwood) told Alders that “many of us would dispute” that books covered by his bill would be “the equivalent of an X-rated movie,” adding that “some of these books feel PG-13 to us.”
“I would submit that is because we have become numb to some of this material in our culture today,” responded Alders. “And for better or worse, we’re inundated with content around us that has allowed us to become numb over the years.”
“And so just because it feels PG-13 doesn’t mean that it is,” he said. “But we’ve allowed our standards to drop in a way that is unhelpful, and it allows us then to look at something that would never have been appropriate for our children 20, 30, 40 years ago and go ‘Oh, that’s probably okay. They’re probably going to run into it anyway out there in the world.’ I think that’s a dangerous place for us to be.”
“This bill isn’t complicated and shouldn’t be controversial,” Alders stated following final House passage of the bill. “Our libraries should be a safe place for our families where parents can feel comfortable letting their children explore age-appropriate literature. This bill simply ensures that our taxpayer-funded libraries are fostering such learning environments.”
HB 3225 now awaits action in the Texas Senate, where State Sen. Bryan Hughes (R–Mineola) is sponsoring the measure.
Time is running short for the Senate to approve the Republican priority and send it to the governor. The regular legislative session ends June 2.
