BILL IS BACK: Sen. Dan Sullivan's bill to regulate library on the agenda for the House Judiciary Committee tomorrow.

Despite last-ditch efforts from Arkansas Democrats in opposition, Sen. Dan Sullivan’s bill that would bar minors from accessing any book that “depicts or describes nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sadomasochistic abuse” passed through the Senate Wednesday afternoon. 

Senate Bill 81 would also create a new law that would send librarians, teachers or other adults to court if they knowingly allowed children to check out controversial materials. Sullivan (R-Jonesboro) said that the bill protects children in a way that already happens with smoking, drinking and driving laws. Content in libraries are harmful to children, he said.

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The bill also passed through a Senate committee on Monday, regardless of a room full of librarians who showed up to speak against it.

On Wednesday, Sen. Stephanie Flowers (D-Pine Bluff) opposed Sullivan’s bill and said that librarians shouldn’t be held responsible for what books are chosen to be in the library. That’s something the Department of Education determines, she said.

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Sullivan said that he disagreed, and librarians do have a say in what’s on the shelves. 

Sen. Linda Chesterfield (D-Little Rock) echoed Flowers and added that she was concerned about “the bag of worms that we’re opening.” She said that she would be concerned that literature about Greek and Roman mythology could be deemed obscene and removed.

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‘ZEUS WAS A RASCAL’: Sen. Linda Chesterfield said that she was concerned classics on Roman and Greek mythology would be taken off shelves.

Sen. Clarke Tucker (D-Little Rock) took the podium and reminded legislators how difficult it is to determine obscenity. There is no criteria currently set in Sullivan’s bill for a book to be deemed obscene, and Tucker said that he is worried a group could remove materials for any reason they seemed fit. 

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Tucker recommended that the three-part Miller Test should be written into the bill to set criteria for obscenity. The Miller Test checks whether the average person would say that the material appeals to prurient interest, depicts sexual conduct in a way that is against state law and lacks literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

He warned that removing materials without criteria would stem into censorship and violate First Amendment rights.

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All six Democratic Senators opposed the bill. It passed and will move to the House side.