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New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, signed a bill into law on Monday to prohibit public libraries and school libraries from banning books in the state.
The law will also implement protections for librarians who follow the law against civil and criminal charges, according to The Associated Press.
This makes New Jersey the latest state to enact a law prohibiting book bans, joining other Democrat-led states, including Illinois and Minnesota.
Murphy signed the bill at Princeton’s public library, located near Princeton University. The legislation comes in response to Republican-leaning states that have looked to remove books in recent years from school curriculum and school libraries that they deem inappropriate for young children, such as books containing sexually explicit material or that center on LGBTQ+ or Critical Race Theory.
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New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy at the Princeton Public Library on Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, signs legislation aimed at barring public libraries and schools from banning books. (AP)
“It’s the antithesis of all these book banning states that you see,” the governor said. “I’m incredibly proud to have signed it, but also acknowledge that America — and this is yet another good example — is becoming a patchwork quilt country. It really matters where you live.”
Under the law, public libraries and school libraries may not exclude books because of the origin, background or views of the material or of its authors. Libraries will also be prohibited from censoring books solely because a person finds them offensive.
The bill allows books to be restricted in the case of “developmentally inappropriate material” for certain age groups. The law also requires local school boards and the governing bodies of public libraries to establish policies for book curation and the removal of library materials, including a way to address concerns over certain titles.
Lawmakers in more…
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