Text of CT HB 5417 (2024)

LCO No. 2657 1 of 2 General Assembly Raised Bill No. 5417 February Session, 2024 LCO No. 2657 *02657_______ED_* Referred to Committee on EDUCATION Introduced by: (ED) AN ACT CONCERNING PUBLIC SCHOOL LIBRARIES. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened: Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2024) (a) As used in this section: 1 (1) "Library material" means books, periodicals or any other sources, 2 in print or nonprint format, available for reference purposes or to be 3 circulated for voluntary inquiry by students. "Library material" does not 4 include materials required as a part of classroom instruction; 5 (2) "Remove" means deliberately taking library material out of a 6 library's collection. "Remove" does not include the process of clearing 7 such collection of any materials that are no longer useful; and 8 (3) "Restrict access" means placing library material in any manner to 9 limit circulation or accessibility. 10 (b) Each local or regional board of education shall provide a reason if 11 such board removes or restricts access to any library material belonging 12 to the collection of a school library or media center. No board shall 13 remove or restrict access to library material for any of the following: 14 Raised Bill No. 5417 LCO No. 2657 2 of 2 (1) Partisan approval or disapproval of any library material by the 15 board; 16 (2) An author's race, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation 17 or political or religious views; 18 (3) Personal discomfort, morality or political or religious views of a 19 member or members of the board; 20 (4) An author's points of view concerning current events, whether 21 international, national or local; 22 (5) The race, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation or 23 political or religious views of a protagonist or other characters or as 24 otherwise represented in the library material; or 25 (6) The content of the library material is related to sexual health and 26 addresses physical, mental, emotional or social dimensions of human 27 sexuality, including, but not limited to, puberty, sex and relationships. 28 This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections: Section 1 July 1, 2024 New section Statement of Purpose: To require local and regional boards of education to state a reason for removing or restricting access to public school library materials and prohibiting such boards from removing or restricting access to such materials for certain reasons. [Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]