Tennessee Bill Targets Publishers for Sending Sexually Explicit Books to Schools

Books on a shelf in a school library in a file photo. John Moore/Getty Images

The Tennessee House of Representatives approved a bill on April 19 that could make book publishers, distributors, or sellers liable for knowingly sending “obscene materials” to public schools in the state.

Senate Bill 1059, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Susan Lynn and Republican state Sen. Joey Hensley, passed the House in a 71–22 vote, roughly a week after it passed in the Senate.

It now heads to Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s desk to be signed into law.

Under the bill, the “educational justification of a person possessing obscene material” is removed if the individual “is at a school building, bus, school campus, grounds, recreational area, athletic field, or other property owned, used, or operated by a local education agency.”

The bill would also make it a Class E felony for any book publisher, distributor, or seller to knowingly sell or distribute “obscene matter” or materials to a public school in Tennessee serving any of the grades in K–12.

State law defines obscene materials as those that the average person “applying contemporary community standards” would find “appeals to the prurient interest” or “ depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct,” and “taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.”

Publishers, distributors, or sellers found guilty of violating the law risk receiving a six-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $3,000, in line with a Class E felony, although the law notes this could be even higher—up to $100,000 per violation.

If signed by the governor, the bill would go into effect in July.

‘You Can’t Give Sexually Explicit Books to Minors’

Lynn told The Tennessean that the bill is intended to further bolster other laws the state has in place, such as the Age Appropriate Materials Act (pdf), to help keep inappropriate materials out of children’s hands.

That act requires each public school and public charter school to maintain a list of materials in the library collection, and periodically review and evaluate library books to ensure they are appropriate for the age and maturity levels of the students who may access them.

“This is only for books being sent to the school,” Lynn said. “Certainly, if there are any sexually explicit books in teacher’s classrooms or in school libraries, they need to come out. You can’t give sexually explicit books to minors.”

Explaining further how the law would work, Lynn said that any books with “sexually explicit sentences” would be deemed to contain obscene matter and would need to be removed from schools, leaving the book publishers, distributors, or sellers liable.

“We’re sorry it’s the entire book, but they chose to put sexually explicit content in the book,” Lynn added.

While the bill passed in a vote on April 19, not everyone welcomed the legislation.

Democrat state Rep. Justin Jones told fellow lawmakers during floor discussions regarding the bill that they should be focused instead on banning assault rifles in the state as opposed to books.

“I think that there are children that are watching this body and are saying ‘protect our lives, ban assault rifles’ and you are responding by banning books. We can do better than this,” said Jones, according to WKRN.

Jones was recently reinstated to the House of Representatives after being expelled for taking part in a gun control protest on the House floor in the wake of the March 27 deadly shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville.

‘Bill Targets Publishers’

PEN America, a nonprofit organization that promotes freedom of expression, condemned the bill in a statement on April 19, calling it a censorious effort to “intimidate and chill” the publishing industry and urging Lee not to sign it into law.

“As we have been seeing across the country, this proposed law is another attempt to weaponize government power to legislate book banning through threats and fear,” said Jonathan Friedman, director of PEN America’s Free Expression and Education program, in a statement. “Rather than seek to intimidate teachers or librarians, this bill targets publishers, a blatant attempt to extend the censorious climate surrounding books in schools to constrain choices to create and distribute books and school materials in the first place.”

“Strengthening the potential for felony charges against publishers and distributors harkens back in history decades and decades ago when government sought to stymie the circulation of new ideas and information — eras associated with the very definition of censorship and suppression,” he continued.

“This bill reflects common tactics by authoritarian governments abroad. Governor Lee ought to reject signing in favor of standing for the principles of liberty and openness that are meant to anchor both the American publishing industry and the public education system,” Friedman said.

However, Senate Republican Caucus spokesperson Molly Gormley told The Tennessean that the new law “does not change the current process for removing obscene books from libraries,” and is instead intended to make publishers, distributors, and sellers accountable to ensure obscene materials are not distributed to schools and made available to minors.