St. Louis’s NBC affiliate reports:
Public libraries are feeling the heat after the Missouri House perfected budget bills that would eliminate state funding for libraries across state, citing a controversial lawsuit as the reason.
Rep. Cody Smith (R-Carthage), the House Budget Committee chairman, proposed to cut the entire $4.5 million budget slated for Missouri libraries last week after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit to overturn a new Missouri law.
This suit targeted a law banning “explicit sexual” images from all school materials, including library books. This law, the ACLU argued, was directly against the constitutional rights of the students.
The Associated Press reports:
The law, passed last year, does not apply to written descriptions of sex or sexual acts; only photos, drawings, videos and other visual depictions are prohibited.
Librarians and other school officials face up to a year in jail or a $2,000 fine for violating the policy, which makes it a crime to provide minors with sexually explicit visual material. Exceptions are provided for works of art, science classes, and other educational courses.
“Who do we want to be in here?” State Rep. Peter Merideth asked colleagues on the House floor. “The ones banning books and defunding public libraries when they dare to question whether that was constitutional?”
MO State Rep. Peter Merideth (D) on a just-passed GOP budget defunding libraries: “They actually took out all state aid for public libraries explicitly because librarians are suing over their First Amendment rights … We are starting to live in a dystopian future from 1984.” pic.twitter.com/fej8ywxbCf
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) March 30, 2023
Missouri Reps Just Voted To Completely Defund The State’s Public Libraries. The new budget sets funds for libraries to $0. Library groups say the move is retaliation for suing the state over its recent book ban law.https://t.co/7tYkUGfH29
— Tom Williams (@tommyboy0690) March 31, 2023
The House Republicans’ effort to defund Missouri libraries is straight out of dystopian fiction. The government should not punish libraries or librarians for exercising their constitutional rights, and this week, House Democrats will work to restore the funding for these… pic.twitter.com/fiJYcG6voe
— Missouri House Democratic Caucus (@MOLegDems) March 27, 2023
Missouri state rep Cody Smith wants to defund libraries after Missouri Library Association, Missouri Association of School Librarians, ALCU sued in state court on removing sexual explicit books https://t.co/1P9VJ1aKmh
— Yogi Thomas ? Spoutible.com ? (@YogiSunlight) March 22, 2023