The New Jersey Senate passed the Freedom to Read Act, which seeks to prohibit books from being banned in libraries and offers immunity to librarians and library staff performing their jobs in “good faith” in relation to book ban challenges.
The bill, A3446, passed 25–15 on Oct. 28, largely along party lines, with Democrats voting yes. It now awaits Gov. Phil Murphy’s signature.
The bill’s purpose is to “protect the freedom of New Jersey’s residents to read, for school libraries and public libraries to acquire and maintain materials without external limitations, to recognize that school library staff members and librarians are trained to curate and develop collections, and to ensure school library staff members and librarians are able to perform their duties.”
It would also give library staff immunity from civil and criminal liability for “good faith actions.”
Opponents of the bill say it could make obscene material and inappropriate content available to children.
The group Common Sense Club posted on X before the vote was taken: “Far different from its innocent name, the ‘Freedom to Read’ act would allow sexually explicit materials in school libraries! The N.J. Senate will be voting on this bill Monday, October 28. Contact your state senator today and tell them to vote NO on Act S2421!”
The group Every Library Institute, in coordination with the New Jersey Association of School Librarians, is urging supporters to contact Murphy to sign the bill into law.
“The New Jersey Association of School Librarians is thrilled that S2421/A3446, the Freedom to Read Act, was passed by the full Senate on Monday, October 28,” they wrote on their website.
“The legislation would provide protections for librarians who are simply doing their job in providing access to diverse materials.”
State Sen. Joe Pennacchio, a Republican, expressed his opposition to the legislation on the Senate floor, saying it would permit obscene books and materials to be accessible in school libraries.
“Our greatest responsibility is protecting the most vulnerable in society. Certainly, our children should receive the highest priority,” Pennacchio said. “Exposing minors to material that they are not yet prepared for flies in the face of that responsibility.”
Sen. Declan O’Scanlon voted no on the bill and told The Epoch Times in a phone interview that the bill’s authors “came a long way from the first version of the bill” but not far enough for him to vote yes.
“The previous version of this bill was much worse. It moved in the right direction, but just not far enough for me,” he said.
According to O’Scanlon, some believe parents should have “no say at all what their kids have access to,” and others believe books, including some classics, should be banned.
“Then, there are people in the middle who agree there should be some level of restriction—especially to young kids—while at the same time, we make sure we do not get into banning books due to philosophical perspective, etc.,” the Republican senator said.
Before the vote, the bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Andrew Zwicker, stood alongside a librarian and stated that they were being threatened and harassed in the state. He emphasized that parents will not lose the right to decide what their children read.
“You and all New Jerseyans have the freedom to choose what you want to read, and parents have and will continue to have the freedom to choose what their children will read. But no one gets to decide that for you—not now, and not ever,” Zwicker said.
According to the Democratic senator, there have been thousands of attempts across the country to ban books, including LGBT books and even books about people of color. He did not say what the objections were about the content of the books but in Florida, parents have sought to remove certain LGBT books due to their containing sexually explicit material that they don’t believe is age appropriate.
Co-sponsor Sen. Jon Bramnick, the only Republican who voted yes on the bill, said that currently, in the state, there is no standard and “this bill would set a standard.”
“There is no support for pornography,” and the bill would keep pornography out of schools, he said.
Republican state Sen. Mike Testa, an attorney, took to the floor to question why librarians and library staff would need immunity for “good faith” actions.
He said the bill would provide “an intentional blanket exemption from New Jersey’s obscenity law, or for that matter, any other law intended to protect our children.”
“How exactly does a person distribute obscene materials to a child in good faith?” Testa said. “I also think it’s incredibly telling that if some of these very same sexually explicit materials were shown to a child by a neighbor, that individual would be charged with a Megan’s Law offense, and rightfully so.”
O’Scanlon said Bramnick was “right that this bill would set some standards,” adding that Testa “made a fair point” on the immunity in this bill.
The bill requires the state education commissioner to develop policies on book selection. The local boards of education would then use those policies to develop their own criteria, including the “removal of existing school library material or library material selected for inclusion in the school library and provide protection against attempts to censor library material.”
