Nebraska bill to subject librarians to charges for giving obscene material fails

[Jessica_Rose]

A Nebraska bill to subject librarians to charges for giving 'obscene material' to children fails

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-nebraska-bill-to-subject-librarians-to-charges-for-giving-obscene-material-to-children-fails/ar-BB1keYxj?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=94bc1c4dcff140a2b0951d5da2971034&ei=74

Story by MARGERY A. BECK (20 March 2024)

A bill that would have held school librarians and teachers criminally responsible for providing "obscene material" to Nebraska students in grades K-12 failed to break a filibuster Wednesday in the Legislature.

State Sen. Joni Albrecht, who introduced the bill, said it simply would close a "loophole" in the state's existing obscenity laws that prohibit adults from giving such material to minors. But critics panned it as a way for a vocal minority to ban books they don't like from school and public library shelves.

Opponents of the bill argued that children are not accessing obscene material as it is currently defined in the law — which would essentially cover graphic pornography and erotica — in school and public libraries.

Instead, they said, the bill would be used by a handful of people who want to ban books they don't like and would have a chilling effect free speech. It would have allowed a handful of people who would like to ban books they don't like to threaten educators and librarians with criminal charges, opposing lawmakers said, likely lead librarians to pull books from the shelves simply to avoid the conflict.