Illinois lawmakers reject library book bans

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois lawmakers on Wednesday gave the green light to a bill that says state libraries must adopt an anti-book ban policy to receive state funding, in a failed cross-party vote.

The move, spearheaded by Secretary of State Alexi Giannouliasrepresents a movement contrary to the growing efforts to restrict books on topics such as race, gender and sexuality in schools and libraries in the United States.

The legislation has passed both houses and now heads to the desk of Gov. JB Pritzker, who said he looks forward to signing it.

“This historic legislation is a win for our democracy, a win for First Amendment rights, and most importantly, a great win for future generations,” Giannoulias said at a news conference Wednesday after HB 2789 he cleared the Senate in a party-line vote.

To be eligible for state funding, the bill requires libraries to adopt the American Library Association Act. Library Bill of Rightswhich holds that “materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or opinions of those who contributed to their creation,” and “should not be proscribed or removed due to partisan or doctrinal disapproval.”

Libraries may also develop an alternative policy that prohibits the practice of forbidding receipt of funds.

Chicago area Sen. Laura Murphy, a Democrat and one of the bill’s sponsors, welcomed its passage.

“Our nation’s libraries have been under attack for far too long – they are bastions of knowledge and the dissemination of ideas proliferates,” Murphy said in a press release. “Librarians are trained professionals and we must trust that they will stock our libraries with the appropriate materials; They were hired for their expertise and deserve our respect.”

the 19 republicans People in the Illinois Senate voted against the measure, including Republican Sen. Jason Plummer, who represents Edwardsville, a city northeast of St. Louis.

Plummer said the bill is an Illinois effort. democrats “force their extreme ideology on the communities of this state” and wrest control of local libraries.

“Members of locally elected library boards, who are working to increase literacy in their communities, don’t need a book ban agenda being foisted on them by Chicago politicians who are just trying to get cheap publicity,” Plummer said in a statement. Press release.

“It is offensive to the ideals of good government to threaten to take public funds away from the very communities that generated those funds through their taxes,” he said.

Giannoulias, a Democrat, said he is “shocked that this has become a partisan issue.”

Attempts to ban and restrict books in school and public libraries hit a record in 2022according to a March report from the American Library Association.

Giannoulias, who in January was sworn in as the first new secretary of state in a quarter century, teamed up with Naperville Democratic Rep. Anne Stava-Murray after parents in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove complained to the board. from the high school about “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe last summer.

Savage is a staff member of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on covert issues.