The Florida Legislature supports limits to book challenges

Share
banned books, First Amendment
Banned books. Displayed at The Hive St. Pete. By Seán Kinane/WMNF News (Aug. 2023)

©2024 The News Service of Florida

The Florida House on Thursday gave final approval to an education bill that includes seeking to limit school library book objections from people who don’t have children in schools.

The bill (HB 1285) says that a “resident of the county who is not the parent or guardian of a student with access to school district materials may not object to more than one material per month.”

The House passed a version of the bill in February that sought to assess $100 “processing” fees for unsuccessful book objections by certain people.

The Senate, however, changed the bill to limit people without children in schools to one challenge per month. House members on Thursday accepted the change and voted 84-29 to approve the revised bill, putting it in a position to go to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The bill comes after the Legislature and DeSantis since 2022 have approved measures that increased scrutiny of school-library books and classroom materials.

DeSantis last month issued a statement saying that he had called on the Legislature to take steps to curb “frivolous” book challenges, adding that some Floridians “abused” the process of filing objections.

Democrats have long opposed easing the process for objecting to books, likening books being pulled from library shelves to book bans.

You may also like

For rent
Some Floridians have to work well over 40 hours a week to afford rent, report shows

Listen: A new report shows some Florida residents need to...

Mycology and mushroom foraging with Steven Landseadel

Join Tanja, Anni and mushroom expert Steven Landseadel to discuss...

Postscript on the elections and moving forward

Community Speaks WMNF with Patró Mabíli host a postscript on...

The Scoop for Monday, November 11, 2024- WMNF’s Daily digest of news headlines

A student newspaper at the University of Florida reports the...

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

Follow us on Instagram

The Morning Show Tuesday
Player position: