Illinois Proposes First Anti-Book Ban Legislation

In his State of the State code past month, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker addressed publication bans caput on. Now, acknowledgment to Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, House Bill 2789–the Right to Read Bill–has passed done committee and volition marque its mode to the afloat House for consideration.

HB 2789 would necktie authorities backing of nationalist libraries and nationalist schoolhouse libraries to policies that explicitly forestall publication banning and restricting entree to books and different materials. Each room would request to outline their committedness to intelligence freedom. As the measure and its amendment read:

Synopsis As Introduced
Amends the Illinois Library System Act. Provides that it is the argumentation of the State to promote the betterment of escaped nationalist libraries and to promote practice among each types of libraries successful promoting the sharing of room resources, including integer resources, and to promote and support the state of nationalist libraries and room systems to get materials without outer regulation and to beryllium protected against attempts to ban, remove, oregon different restrict entree to books oregon different materials. Provides that the State Librarian shall prescribe rules concerning the improvement of a written argumentation declaring the inherent authorization of the nationalist room oregon room strategy to prohibit the signifier of banning circumstantial books oregon resources. Provides that, successful bid to beryllium eligible for State grants, a nationalist room oregon room strategy shall make a written argumentation prohibiting the signifier of banning books wrong the nationalist room oregon room system. Makes different changes.

House Committee Amendment No. 1
Replaces everything aft the enacting clause. Reinserts the provisions of the introduced measure with the pursuing changes: changes references to “public room oregon room system” to “library oregon room system”; provides that an alternate to the improvement of a written connection (rather than policy) prohibiting the signifier of banning books is to follow the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights that indicates materials should not beryllium proscribed oregon removed due to the fact that of partisan oregon doctrinal disapproval; and provides that the written connection shall state that an capable postulation (rather than stock) of books and different materials is needed successful a capable size and varied successful benignant and taxable substance to fulfill the room needs of the radical of the State. Makes conforming changes.

If passed, Illinois volition beryllium the archetypal authorities successful the federation to guarantee intelligence state for each crossed the state. The measure is enthusiastically supported by the Illinois Library Association, the Association of Illinois School Librarians, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, and NAACP-Springfield.

HB 2789 moving to the full House means that those who unrecorded successful Illinois should interaction their representatives successful enactment of the bill. You tin find your House representative, arsenic good arsenic you Senate representatives, here.

For those who don’t unrecorded successful Illinois, HB 2789 offers an accidental to contiguous authorities legislatures connection and argumentation astir intelligence freedom. The question to extremity publication bans volition not extremity until much politicians marque it a priority, and fixed however states similar Texas, Florida, and Oklahoma person made publication bans, publication ratings, and intelligence suppression apical priorities, determination is nary excuse wherefore different states cannot measurement up and respond.

While it mightiness look unusual that the Secretary of State would propulsion for anti-book prohibition legislation, successful Illinois, Giannoulias’s responsibilities see literacy efforts. He is the State Librarian, overlooking each State Library services. Giannoulias took bureau successful January this twelvemonth aft Jesse White declined to tally again (White had been the longest serving American to clasp the office).

Illinois has not been immune from publication bans. Several ample cities and suburbs, arsenic good arsenic smaller communities, person seen battles implicit books similar Gender Queer, Between The World and Me, and others; successful immoderate cases, similar Barrington and Downers Grove, the books were retained. In different cases, specified arsenic those successful Rockford and Machesney Park, the books were banned. Several publication banning groups person worked to region books crossed the state, and successful the pb up to the April 4 municipal elections, right-wing “parental rights” activists person made publication banning among their priorities successful their bids for schoolhouse and room committee seats.

This landmark measure saw 3 nay votes successful committee, and each 3 came from achromatic antheral enactment representatives, Brad Halbrook, Michael J. Coffey Jr., and Wayne A. Rosenthal.

“Unfortunately, a scourge of censorship is polarizing and disrupting communities passim our country,” said Giannoulias in a connection announcing the legislation. “It is besides threatened the information of our amazingly dedicated librarians, the likes of which they person ne'er seen before.”

He added, “These efforts to prohibition speechmaking materials person thing to bash with books. They are astir restricting the state of ideas that definite individuals disagree with and judge that nary 1 other should deliberation oregon having entree to”