Texas House lawmakers approved legislation aimed at strengthening a law passed last session that was meant to keep adult content out of kids’ school libraries.
Senate Bill 13 by State Sen. Angela Paxton (R–McKinney) has been called “a vital fix” to the READER Act, which supporters say isn’t working as intended due to legal challenges, unclear definitions, and a lack of enforcement.
SB 13 is a priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the Texas GOP.
It prohibits school libraries from containing “profane” or “indecent” content. “Indecent” is the Federal Communications Commission standard for content aired between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. that has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
SB 13 also requires parental access to school libraries, library catalogs, and their children’s library checkout records, and allows parents to submit a list of school library materials their children cannot check out.
State Rep. Brad Buckley (R–Salado), the House sponsor of the bill, said SB 13 “addresses the issue of sexually explicit content in school libraries by providing increased structure and transparency to the processes and standards for school library book acquisition and review policies to ensure that school library collections are appropriate for their campuses based upon developmental suitability for those grade levels and on community values.”
While the legislation as originally passed in the Senate creates district-level library advisory councils with at least five parents, educators, and local community members appointed by school boards, the House made this provision optional for districts, unless 20 percent of parents petition for the council’s establishment.
State Rep. Brent Money (R–Greenville) offered an amendment to lower the petition threshold to 50 parents. It failed in a vote of 101-42.
The councils would only make recommendations regarding book purchases. School boards would make final decisions after allowing a 30-day public review of the materials.
The Senate version also allows any district resident or employee to submit book challenges, which must be acted on within 90 days.
The House version requires the board to act at the first open meeting after the 90th day from receipt of the challenge or after council recommendation, whichever is later.
In the Senate version, books would be removed from circulation during reviews. However, an amendment by Buckley added to the bill removed the mandate that books be taken out of circulation during reviews. Instead, parents will be informed that the book has been challenged.
Child protection advocates have raised concerns about the lack of enforcement mechanisms in the law.
The legislation passed in a vote of 87-57.
Now, the bill requires one more vote in the House before going back to the Senate for either approval or to be reconciled in a conference committee.
The legislative session ends June 2.
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