LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Amid a rising tide of challenges to books in schools and public libraries, a Nevada lawmaker is seeking to make it harder to take materials off the shelves.
Assemblywoman Brittney Miller, D-Clark County, introduced Assembly Bill 416 to prevent anyone — whether school or library district officials or members of the general public — from forcing books to be removed.
Watch here for my break down on what this bill could mean for Nevadans
"This bill has been a labor of love, and democracy and liberty," she said at a hearing of the Assembly Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
But opponents of the bill — including a group that has objected to library materials here in Clark County — object, saying the bill removes all local control over what materials should be on the shelves. They also complain that the only way to remove a book they consider obscene is through the courts.
Miller, citing data from the American Library Association, said 4,240 books have been targeted for censorship, including 1,247 in 2023 alone. A total of 37 states are considering some form of censorship, she said, while another 20 are enacting "right to read" laws.
Here in Nevada, book challenges have taken place in both the Washoe County School District and the Clark County School District, which Miller said saw 13 challenges between 2022 and 2024.
"The importance of this legislation cannot be overstated," Miller said at the hearing. "In recent years, we have seen a troubling rise in attempts to ban books from school libraries across the country and here in Nevada."
She cited data from PEN America, a free-speech group, which documented attempts to restrict books in 42 states, most prominently because of gay or transgender characters or issues of race.
"So it's not about obscenity, like they say," she said.
Under AB 416:
- School district boards of trustees, charter school boards, library district officials and higher education leaders could not remove library materials from circulation, make them harder to find or label them objectionable.
- Libraries can restrict materials to safeguard them or if the restriction is reasonable and not based on sex, race, national origin, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability or political affiliation of the author, the subject or the audience of the material.
- Protects school and library district employees from discipline for following the law.
- Makes it a felony to intimidate or coerce a student from accessing library materials, or to intimidate or coerce a library employee from following the law. It would also make it a felony to disseminate personal information to harass or cause harm to students and library officials for accessing library materials.
- Allow for lawsuits to be filed over books that parents or others deem to be obscene. (Obscenity has a specific legal definition that people who challenge books must prove before material can be removed.)
"Assembly Bill 416 strikes a careful balance between protecting students' rights and the public's rights to access information and ensure that decisions about library materials are based on educational merit rather than political pressure or personal opinions or agendas," Miller said.
The bill also garnered support from Authors Against Book Bans and the American Booksellers for Free Expression.
But the group Power2Parent said it was opposed to AB 416. The group's civic engagement director, Nichole Mason, said it entirely removes local control of school and public libraries, and criticized the requirement to challenge books in court as burdensome.
That's especially concerning, Mason said, when it comes to material parents believe is obscene. "So this bill removes the ability of a school, a school employee, a school district from removing it," Mason said. "The only way that it could be removed from a school library if this bill were to be passed is if someone sued in court."
Mason said she had no objection to a rating system for books — similar to one in place now for films — that could guide librarians in what books they allow school children to access.
"And there are things that are inappropriate for minors to see," she said. "And we've already addressed that as a society, that minors should not see graphic depictions of sex."
And Mason also questioned whether some of the bill's backers had a conflict of interest.
"The people who are pushing this bill are people who do not want a school library to be curated in any way — the authors and the booksellers," she said. "This does not protect children."
The bill was only heard on Tuesday; it has until Friday to pass from the Judiciary Committee — which Miller chairs — or it will be considered dead for the rest of the 2025 Legislature.
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