BOISE, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
The Idaho Senate on Thursday narrowly defeated the latest bill targeting “materials harmful to minors” in libraries.
Sen. Geoff Schroeder, R-Mountain Home, sponsored SB 1289, along with Rep. Jaron Crane, R-Nampa; the bill outlines a process that school and public libraries would have to follow if materials were challenged as pornographic.
Other proposals have been made over the past couple of years, including another one sponsored by Crane that had gone to the House but was withdrawn so that he and Schroeder could work together on SB 1289.
“What this bill doesn’t do is ban books. What the bill doesn't do is ban ideas,” Schroeder said. “What the bill does, is promote the exchange of ideas in order to answer the question, which is burning in everyone's minds: is this material harmful to minors or is it not? ... This provides a reasoned, deliberative process where you can answer that question.”
The Senate voted 17-18, with many members of the very conservative Freedom Caucus and most of the Democrats voting against it.
Most of those who debated against the bill said either it didn’t do enough for families who wanted to get books moved or removed, or that it wasn’t necessary because librarians already follow practices and there isn’t pornographic material available to minors.
Sen. Rick Just, D-Boise, said SB 1289 was “the best bill yet” on the subject, but he wouldn’t be supporting it.
“There is no plague of pornography in our libraries,” Just said.
Past proposals would have criminalized librarians for checking books out to minors that were deemed harmful or created avenues for private legal action against library and school districts with steeper fines. Under SB 1289, there would still be a potential fine of $250 and other damages, but a lawsuit could only be sought if other steps were taken first. Last year’s library legislation would have allowed people to sue for $2,500 in addition to other damages.
Sen. Scott Herndon, R-Sagle, said he thought the legislation created “a very difficult bureaucratic process.”
The bill would require library and school districts to create a uniform form that parents and guardians of minors could use to challenge materials that would meet a definition of “harmful to minors” in existing obscenity laws.
Additionally, a committee would be formed with at least one parent of a minor in the district as a member. This review committee would then look at the challenged material and determine if it violated the code, which relates to depictions of sexual conduct and nudity that are “patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community with respect to what is suitable material for minors.”
It would not apply when the material, as a whole, is considered to possess "serious, literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors, according to prevailing standards in the adult community, with respect to what is suitable for minors.”
The committee would need to hold a public hearing and then issue a decision with reasons and citation to code on why it would or would not be considered harmful. Families may appeal the decision to the governing board. If all these avenues have been exhausted, then they may go to the courts.
Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Winder, R-Boise, supported the bill, and lauded the “cooperative effort” that led to its creation.
He said he couldn’t guarantee the bill wouldn't get vetoed, as last year’s HB 314 was, but thought it had a better chance of becoming a law.
“I don’t want to go home without a library bill,” Winder said. “I think this is the best we’re going to get this year.”
Sen. Linda Hartgen, R-Twin Falls, said she had concerns about the private right of action, which allows families to sue districts over materials, but thought the bill adequately addressed people’s concerns without damaging libraries.
“I don’t want something worse than this,” she said.
The Freedom Caucus all voted against it, as well as Sens. Carl Bjerke, R-Coeur d'Alene; Dan Foreman, R-Moscow; Phil Hart, R-Kellogg; Doug Okuniewicz, R-Hayden; a substitute for Doug Ricks, R-Rexburg; Ben Toews, R-Coeur d’ Alene; and Chris Trakel, R-Caldwell.
Sen. Carrie Semmelroth of Boise was the only Democrat to vote in favor; she said libraries already have processes and the bill would add "another layer of protection." She also thought that if it passed, the state library commission would need more resources to comply.
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
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