LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – A bill was introduced last month to limit books that children could access from public libraries to limit access to explicit content.
Under House Bill 4136, introduced by Rep. Neil Friske (R- Charlevoix) items deemed sexually explicit or obscene would be moved to an adults-only section of public libraries.
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“My office has received an outpouring of calls from constituents who are angered at the content found in the children’s sections of their local libraries,” Representative Friske said in a statement, “This is a genuine concern for folks in my district, and my bill aims to keep children across the state safe.”
The bill would serve as an amendment to the Library Privacy Act according to Friske by using the definitions of ‘Sexually Explicit Matter,’ or “sexually explicit visual material, sexually explicit verbal material, or sexually explicit performance,” and ‘Obscene’ in MCLs 722.673 and 752.362, respectively.
“This bill does not ban libraries from having specific books or genres of books, nor does it discriminate against any individuals,” Friske said in a statement. “The bill simply places content containing things like pornographic images to an area of the library reserved specifically for adults. This is common sense legislation. It is crucial that the children of Michigan be protected everywhere they go – obscenity in front of minors is traumatic and should never be permitted.”
The bill does include a regulatory section that could close libraries temporarily if they are found not compliant.
“Beginning 90 days after the effective date of the amendatory act that added this section, if an individual finds a library is not in compliance with this section, that individual may file a complaint against the governing body of the library in a court of competent jurisdiction,” the bill states, “If the court finds that the governing body of the library has failed to comply with subsection (1), the court shall order the library to be closed to the public until the governing body of the library demonstrates to the court that it has complied with subsection (1).”
According to Rep. Friske, he did not seek out co-sponsors on this bill, although other members of the Michigan House Freedom Caucus have voiced support.
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The bill comes just five months after the Dearborn Public Schools removed seven books from its shelves, and temporarily suspended student access to the online library OverDrive (ebook) collection, after many parental complaints regarding sexually explicit content.
After a series of school board meetings including one in October that hosted more nearly a thousand protestors for and against certain books.
A parent at a previous Dearborn school board meeting said, “Then my concern would be that if this happened as of 2020 for the last two years, students have had access to information [and] books that are 100% inappropriate, not age appropriate. Even if they are curated for K-12 if you’ve seen the amount of literature coming through that is approved for K-12; I don’t want any of my daughters reading that, not until they’re grown adults.”
Rep. Friske’s bill was referred to the Committee on Local Government and Municipal Finance.
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