ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland's General Assembly is tackling the hot button issue of what books kids are exposed to in county and school libraries.
House Bill 785, also known as the Freedom to Read Act, aims to defund libraries who are deemed non-compliant with "state standards."
The proposed law sponsored by five Democratic Delegates would force libraries to follow three specific guidelines in order to receive state funding.
(1) Library materials, services and, and resources exist and should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all persons the library serves.
(2) A library should not exclude material from its catalog because of the origin, background, or views of a person who created the material.
(3) A library should not prohibit or remove material from its catalog because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.
Libraries agreeing to these standards would then be required to incorporate a written policy enforcing them.
In doing so local boards of education and other governing bodies would be banned from disciplining employees who ignore their policies, and instead go along with the state's.
Recently the subject of book censorship,especially in school libraries, has reached a fever pitch.
In January Carroll County's School Board unanimously voted to ban books containing "sexually explicit content," outside "instruction related to family life and human development."
MORE: Carroll County school board OKs change prohibiting ’sexually explicit’ content
State legislators representing Carroll County say they have grave concerns about the bill.
"It is evident that this bill was designed to target Carroll County's Board of Education and take away local control," Senator Justin Ready and Delegates April Rose and Chris Tomlinson said in a joint statement. "For starters, HB785 prohibits any county school superintendent in Maryland from disciplining their own employees for violating board policies."
Carroll County isn't the only school system grappling with the issue.
Last June parents and teachers in Wicomico County were passing around a petition to have "obscene and sexually explicit" books taken off school library shelves.
Then that following August a federal judge ruled against a group of parents in Montgomery County, saying they have no fundamental right to opt their elementary school-aged children out of reading books in class with LGBTQ+ characters.
HB785 passed its first reading and has been referred to committee.
