By Sophie Nieto-Munoz, NJ Monitor
A bill aimed at limiting book bans in public schools and libraries and protecting librarians from lawsuits and criminal charges is now on the governor’s desk.
Titled the “Freedom to Read Act,” the legislation would require the state’s education commissioner to develop policies on how library materials are selected and how challenges to books on library shelves should be evaluated. Local school boards and library boards would then adopt their own policies using this model.
“You and all New Jerseyans have the freedom to choose what you want to read, and parents have and will continue to have the freedom to choose what their children will read. But no one gets to decide that for you — not now, and not ever,” said bill sponsor Sen. Andrew Zwicker (D-Middlesex).
The bill comes as the American Libraries Association says the number of books targeted for censorship has skyrocketed.
The Senate advanced the controversial bill with a vote of 24-15, with heavy opposition from Republicans. GOP lawmakers said they feared the law would allow children to access obscene materials and protect librarians who share obscene books with children.
“Putting our children at risk and potentially exposing them to material that they are not prepared for flies in the face of our protective duty,” said Sen. Joe Pennacchio (R-Morris). “Couching such material under the guise of the First Amendment is a very distortion of who we are and what we strive to be as Americans.”
The bill comes as the American Library Association says the number of books targeted for censorship has skyrocketed, many of them because they include LGBTQ or sexually explicit content. The number of unique titles targeted for removal from library shelves surged 65% from 2022 to 2023, the organization says. Parents in several towns have lobbied to have certain books removed.
Meanwhile, librarians say they have faced harassment from parents demanding certain books be removed.
States across the country are weighing similar legislation. The governors of California and Maryland recently signed similar bills into law, while lawmakers in New York and Rhode Island are still voting on those measures.
Under the New Jersey bill, school and library boards would be barred from removing books because of the “origin, background, or views” of the material or those contributing to its creation.
The bill would also provide librarians and library staff with immunity from civil and criminal liability for “good faith actions.”
Sen. Mike Testa (R-Cumberland) said he interprets the immunity the bill would provide to librarians as an “intentional blanket exemption from New Jersey’s obscenity law or, for that matter, any other law intended to protect our children.”
Testa claimed there is already “obscene material” available in New Jersey schools, and he questioned why Democrats are pushing for an exemption if there isn’t sexually explicit content in schools.
“How exactly does a person distribute obscene materials to a child in good faith? I also think it’s incredibly telling that if some of these very same sexually explicit materials were shown to a child by a neighbor, that individual would be charged with a Megan’s Law offense, and rightfully so,” he said.
Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Union), co-sponsor of the measure, said the bill would create new standards for libraries that don’t currently exist.
“Right now, in the wild, wild west, no board of education is setting the standard, and now we are saying it is time,” he said.
Bramnick also defended librarians, stressing that none of them intend to provide sexually explicit material. But if a questionable book does end up on library shelves, there must be consistent guidelines and policies to ensure “we have a standard in this society,” he added.
The bill passed the Assembly in June by a 52-20 vote.
