Frustrated by Senate, House members try again to advance their library obscenity bill

The House Committee on the Judiciary meets on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, in Charleston, W.Va. (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography)

A high-profile bill that would open up librarians to felony charges for sharing obscene material with minors has been inserted into a Senate bill that would criminalize child porn made by artificial intelligence.

The move on Tuesday afternoon — which was a surprise to two Democrats and some Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee — was prompted by unhappiness that the Senate had not yet taken up the librarian penalties bill in the final week of session.

Del. Todd Kirby, R-Raleigh

“It’s not our fault the Senate won’t take up the most important bills to our body,” said Del. Todd Kirby, R-Raleigh.

Del. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, flagged the inserted language to committee members, arguing that it wasn’t germane to Senate Bill 741 regarding child pornography penalties.

“We’ve taken a piece of legislation that is for all intents and purposes needed, and we’ve come back to divisive politics that this session has been colored by,” he said. “I’m really disgusted.”

His Democrat colleague, Del. Evan Hansen, said that sneaking a bill like that into the agenda was “exactly why people [were] fed up with state government.”

“Nobody knew we were taking this up today except the majority party,” said Hansen, D-Monongalia.

Hansen and Garcia attempted to remove the amendment and, later, pause action on the amendment. However, it moved forward out of the committee — with Democrats voting no — and the bill will head to the full House for a vote.

Last month, House Democrats voted against House Bill 4654 that would remove exemptions to criminal liability for schools, museums and public libraries relating to distribution and display of obscene materials to minors. They argued that the bill could lead to censorship through banned books and said the legislation failed to adequately define “obscene.”

Despite their pushback, the bill sailed through the House as Republicans argued children should be protected from pornographic or sexually explicit materials.

State librarians have opposed the measure, saying they already have a system in place to decide what types of books are appropriate to display.

Librarians could face a $25,000 fine or five years in prison under the state’s obscenity laws regarding minors.

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