by Logan Finney, Idaho Reports
By a single vote, the Idaho Senate rejected a bill Thursday that would have established a uniform review process for parents to challenge objectionable materials in school and public libraries across the state.
Co-sponsors Sen. Geoff Schroeder, R-Mountain Home, and Rep. Jaron Crane, R-Nampa, crafted Senate Bill 1289 to tackle the ongoing library controversy. The bill aimed to address both the House’s concerns about book content and the Senate’s concerns about the process for challenging a book’s placement.
The death of the so-called combination library bill between the two chambers leaves yet another loose end for lawmakers to consider addressing before they adjourn the legislative session.
“Why are we doing this? There’s been a call. There have been repeated complaints,” Schroeder said during his opening debate. “These objection procedures and the responses aren’t uniform throughout the state. Responses to objections are sometimes conclusory, and sometimes they’re not very informative.”
He argued that the library issue keeps coming back at the statehouse because citizens are unhappy with the results when they have challenged materials in their local communities.
“Right now, persons who are dissatisfied with the board or the director’s decisions don’t have any mandatory recourse, except to get on the open mic night at a board meeting,” Schroeder said. “Or they flood the open mic period, and sometimes that gets out of control.”
Schroeder repeatedly emphasized that he designed the legislation to develop a written record of the local objections, decisions, and justifications at each step in the process.
“All of this procedure I stole from the local land use planning act, including the right to judicial review. You have a notice, you have an opportunity to be heard, and then you get a chance to learn,” Schroeder said. “This is an opportunity for libraries and our patrons to all learn something about what the constitutional standards are for the material in their collection. And it’s an opportunity for the persons attending the hearing to learn how their library is making their decisions, at a hearing at which they have a right to participate.”
He said that encouraging dialogue among community members would address the controversy.
“How do you satisfy the person who is concerned about the material, and how do you satisfy the person who thinks there should be no objection to the material? And how do you balance those two things? You do that through the process of education,” Schroeder said. “Is this material harmful to minors, or is it not? Everybody picks up a phrase and calls something porn or pornography. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. This provides a reasoned, deliberative process where you can answer that question.”
Sen. Scott Herndon, R-Sagle, argued the process outlined in the bill would be too cumbersome.
“Library boards and school boards don’t meet very often. So, to actually act as the appeals process to the review committee, the library and school board would have to meet,” Herndon said. “Parents are going to have to have their attorney ready within 28 days to file paperwork at a district court if they disagree with their review committee. It sounds like a very bureaucratic, difficult process to me.”
Fellow members of the Idaho Freedom Caucus echoed those sentiments.
“The ball is dropped quite often in those processes. I think this is a convoluted approach to helping our parents,” said Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton.
“This makes it too complicated for parents to protect their children,” said Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld, R-Twin Falls. “We need to make it simple. We need to make it clear and easy.”
Sen. Cindy Carlson, R-Riggins, was a lead sponsor of the library bill that Gov. Brad Little vetoed last year. She expressed disappointment on Thursday that the legislation, in her eyes, does not go far enough.
“I have worked really hard to pass legislation to protect children,” Carlson said. “Unfortunately, this legislation doesn’t remove the material. You have to challenge the book in order for the material to be removed. In addition, the process could take up to 6 months for each book.”
She argued in favor of removing obscene content before it reaches the hands of minors rather than setting up a burdensome review process.
“I never intended to cause a friction between librarians and libraries, and this would make them hate us because they will have to provide the staff to deal with this issue,” Carlson said.
Other Senate Republicans were satisfied with the compromise bill their colleague hammered out in negotiation with the House – or at least hoping they could finally put the library issue to rest.
“I can’t guarantee it won’t get vetoed, but I think it’s got a lot better chance than the one where we were going to put potentially librarians in jail or fine them outrageous amounts of money,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Winder, R-Boise.
“You can oppose this. You can vote against it,” Winder said. “But I don’t want to go home without a library bill, and I think this is the best we’re going to get this year.”
Sen. Linda Wright Hartgen, R-Twin Falls, said her district was unanimously opposed to a library bill. However, she said, the argument in Winder’s debate had changed her mind over the last few days.
“Private rights of action actually make me never want to vote for a bill, but here’s the thing,” Wright Hartgen said. “I, too, don’t want something that’s worse than this.”
Sen. Carrie Semmelroth, D-Boise, broke ranks with her party to vote in favor of the bill.
“This legislation provides one more level of protection for the community, in a process that everyone can understand,” Semmelroth said.
But the possibility of another, harsher library bill in the days to come did not bring enough senators on board, with the bill failing by a single vote. Other than Semmelroth, the Democrats argued against the need to pass a library bill at all.
“Our libraries already have review processes in place,” said Minority Caucus Chair Janie Ward-Engelking, D-Boise, specifically calling out the bill’s private cause of action. “This bill could devastate some small schools and rural libraries.”
Other Democrats were more sympathetic, but not convinced the topic needs legislated.
“I understand some of the issues and the concerns that I believe are a minority of Idahoans bringing this issue to our body again and again,” said Sen. Ali Rabe, D-Boise. “I know that a majority of Idahoans stand behind our librarians and don’t want to compromise on this issue.”
“There is no plague of pornography in our libraries. Every library has a process in place for challenging books,” said Sen. Rick Just, D-Boise. “I trust librarians, but more than that I put my faith in local control.”
“The problem with this bill and many others is that the problem isn’t the process. The problem isn’t the library, and the problem isn’t the librarians,” said Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise. She agreed that community dialogue is needed to move forward on the library controversy, but not through a formal review and removal process.
“The problem is the complaints that are coming, are coming probably out of ignorance about the content. Many of the titles that have been challenged are about gay and lesbian characters, and issues about racism,” Wintrow said. “We need to address the specter instead of this.”
SB 1289 – FAILED – 17-18-0
AYES – Adams, Anthon, Bernt, Burtenshaw, Cook, Den Hartog, Grow, Guthrie, Harris, Hartgen, Lakey, Lee, Lent, Schroeder, Semmelroth, VanOrden, Winder
NAYS – Bjerke, Carlson, Foreman, Hart, Herndon, Just, Lenney, Nichols, Okuniewicz, Rabe, Ricks (Ricks), Ruchti, Taylor, Toews, Trakel, Ward-Engelking, Wintrow, Zuiderveld
Logan Finney | Associate Producer
Logan Finney is a North Idaho native with a passion for media production and boring government meetings. He grew up skiing, hunting and hiking in the mountains of Bonner County and has maintained a lifelong interest in the state’s geography, history and politics. Logan joined the Idaho Reports team in 2020 as a legislative session intern and stayed to cover the COVID-19 pandemic. He was hired as an associate producer in 2021 and they haven’t been able to get rid of him since.