Text of CT HB 7014 (2025)

LCO No. 5150 1 of 4 General Assembly Raised Bill No. 7014 January Session, 2025 LCO No. 5150 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, 2025) (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; 8 (3) "Restrict access" means placing library material in any manner to 9 limit circulation or accessibility; and 10 (4) "Qualified complaint" means a request by a student, or a parent or 11 guardian of a student, to remove or restrict access to library material in 12 the collection of the school library or media center of the school in which 13 such student is enrolled. 14 Raised Bill No. 7014 LCO No. 5150 2 of 4 (b) Not later than January 1, 2026, each local and regional board of 15 education shall establish a policy for the evaluation of any library 16 material that is the subject of a qualified complaint or otherwise subject 17 to removal or restricted access. Such policy shall include, but need not 18 be limited to, (1) developing a complaint form for filing qualified 19 complaints, which form shall be posted on the Internet web site of each 20 school under such board's jurisdiction, (2) prescribing a process for the 21 submission of a qualified complaint, (3) establishing a library material 22 review committee that shall include, but need not be limited to, (A) the 23 principal of the school in which the library material is located, (B) the 24 director of curriculum, or a person in an equivalent position, employed 25 by such board, (C) a certified school librarian employed by such board 26 or employed by another board of education in the state, (D) the 27 superintendent of the school district, or the superintendent's designee, 28 and (E) one or more teachers employed by such board, and (4) 29 specifying the process for a library material review committee's 30 evaluation of library material and the time frame and manner in which 31 such committee is required to respond to a qualified complaint. Such 32 board shall review such policy and make any necessary updates not less 33 frequently than every five years after establishing such policy. 34 (c) No local or regional board of education shall permit library 35 material to be removed or subject to restricted access unless a library 36 material review committee completes an evaluation of such library 37 material and a final decision is made, as prescribed by the policy 38 established by such board pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, to 39 remove or restrict access to such library material. Such board shall post 40 any such final decision about whether such library material will be 41 removed or subjected to restricted access on the Internet web site of such 42 board. 43 (d) Each local or regional board of education shall provide a reason 44 for the removal of or restricted access to any library material belonging 45 to the collection of a school library or media center as a result of the 46 process prescribed by the policy established pursuant to subsection (b) 47 Raised Bill No. 7014 LCO No. 5150 3 of 4 of this section. No board shall remove or restrict access to library 48 material because of any of the following: 49 (1) Partisan content or views contained in any library material; 50 (2) An author's race, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation 51 or political or religious views; 52 (3) The personal discomfort, morality or political or religious views 53 of a member or members of the board; 54 (4) An author's points of view concerning current events, whether 55 international, national or local; 56 (5) The race, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation or 57 political or religious views of a protagonist or other characters or as 58 otherwise represented in the library material; or 59 (6) The content of the library material is related to sexual health and 60 addresses physical, mental, emotional or social dimensions of human 61 sexuality, including, but not limited to, puberty, sex and relationships, 62 provided such library material may be subject to removal or restricted 63 access if it is not appropriate for students based on age, development 64 and grade level. 65 This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections: Section 1 July 1, 2025 New section Statement of Purpose: To require local and regional boards of education to develop a policy for the evaluation of public school library materials, to provide a reason for any removal or restriction of access to such materials and to prohibit removal or restricted access to such materials for certain reasons. Raised Bill No. 7014 LCO No. 5150 4 of 4 [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.]