This article was originally published in Alabama Reflector.
Republicans in the Alabama House of Representatives have refiled a bill that would attach criminal penalties for having some materials in libraries that are accessible to children.
HB 4, sponsored by Rep. Arnold Mooney, R-Indian Springs, would apply certain criminal obscenity laws to public libraries, public school libraries and “employees or agents acting on behalf of the legitimate educational purposes of the K-12 public school libraries or public libraries.”
The bill, which does not apply to institutions of higher education, does not outline the level of felony or misdemeanor that would be applicable. Other penalties under the Alabama Anti-Obscenity Enforcement Act include mostly fines, with some potential imprisonment.
Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter
Mooney did not return messages seeking comment.
The bill, which has nearly 50 co-sponsors including Republican leadership, would add another definition of “sexual conduct” to the Alabama code: “In K-12 public schools or public libraries where minors are expected and known to be present without parental presence or consent, any sexual or gender-oriented conduct, presentation, or activity that knowingly exposes a minor to a person who is dressed in sexually revealing, exaggerated, or provocative clothing or costumes, who is stripping, or who is engaged in lewd or lascivious dancing.”
Mooney’s legislation provides 15 business days for staff to move material to an age-restricted section; remove material; cease conduct; or make an official determination that the material or conduct does not violate the law.
If the parent, resident or guardian does not receive not receive notice within 25 days, the copies can be taken to law enforcement.
“Protecting Alabama’s children will always be a top priority,” House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, one of the co-sponsors of the legislation, said in a statement.“The goal of HB 4 is to ensure that our school and public libraries are an educational resource for children that parents can trust. I look forward to continued conversations and moving this legislation through the process.”
The legislation comes amid attacks on public libraries nationwide. A 2024 report from PEN America found that there were more than 4,000 book bans in the first half of the school year.
Mooney filed a similar bill last year but with fewer co-sponsors. The bill passed the House but not the Senate. Last year’s version of the bill did not allow library staff to make a determination that material did not violate obscenity laws.
Craig Scott, the president of the Alabama Library Association and a library director in Gadsden, said in an interview that the bill does not offer a reasonable timeframe for the material to be removed from the library.
“If a book is objectionable, we will review it as a staff and make a decision if whoever the challenging person or persons are,” he said. “If they don’t like our determination to move it or not move it, okay, then they can appeal that and here in Gadsden, it goes to a committee or and then it would go to our library board. In other libraries, it would go straight to the library board to adjudicate, okay? So, it’s a process, and it’s going to take a lot longer than 25 days. I sure wish they would have put 60 in there.”
He also said he takes “great offense” to the bill.
“My long story short, we have been doing the moving of books, or not ordering books, whatever the case might be as part of our jobs that a librarian has been trained for decades upon decades, and now these extremists and our legislators want to legislate our activities,” he said. In other words, they don’t trust us.”
Alabama Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Brian Lyman for questions: info@alabamareflector.com . Follow Alabama Reflector on Facebook and X .
Most Popular
Comments / 0