Note from Debbie

The voters have spoken and Michigan will again see a change in House leadership when the 103rd Legislature takes over on January 1, 2025. The short-lived, two-year trifecta of democratic control will come to an end, and while our Governor is a Democrat and the Senate continues to have a democratic majority, the House now has a solid 58-52 Republican majority.  

With that in mind, it is even more critical that we do all that we can before the year's end to pass the Freedom to Read legislation (House Bills 6034 and 6035) that MLA has been supporting for the past two years.

Two weeks ago, Rep. Glanville (D-Walker) and Rep. Paiz (D-Harper Woods) introduced tie-barred legislation that simply requires libraries to adopt collection development policies that incorporate both the principles of the First Amendment and the rights afforded and upheld in civil rights protections. By incorporating both principles into standard library policy, libraries can 1) protect citizen’s rights to receive and express diverse ideas without censorship, and 2) put to rest baseless challenges targeting authors or the subject matter, content, or viewpoint of material based on protected class. 

This legislation for our public libraries to safeguard books and materials from censorship and protect the right to read for all Michiganders was introduced in the House and referred to the Committee on Government Operations. These bills create a uniform set of rules dictating when and how library materials can be challenged and removed from shelves. 

The Freedom to Read Act legislation enshrines various protections that are rooted in transparency, including:

1. A library must have a board-approved policy in effect that complies with the act setting forth standards for the selection and removal of materials.
2. Public library directors will have the final say in selecting and removing materials in a library's collection. 
3. The individual requesting the removal of material must certify that they live in the library service area and that they have actually read, listened to, or viewed that material themselves.
4. The reason or basis for a request for reconsideration cannot be made based on religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, height, weight, familial status, or marital status of the author or subject matter, OR unless the material has been adjudicated to be obscene or otherwise unprotected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
5. The Michigan Attorney General may compel the public library to adopt a policy and the attorney general, a resident of the public library’s legal service area, or the public library’s contracted service area may commence a civil action to prevent the public library from unlawful removal of material.

We feel confident that if these bills reach the Governor’s desk before the end of this legislative session they will be signed into law.

BE READY…As we await the final date and time for the Committee on Government Operations to schedule their hearing (currently scheduled for Dec. 4 but could change up to 24 hours prior), we will be putting our talking points together for you and sending them out immediately after the Thanksgiving holiday.  We hope you will be ready when we CALL YOU TO ACTION to call, email, or visit your House member and show your support for this legislation.