GSU Library Research Guides: Hot Topics: Censorship, Banned, and Challenged Books: Law and Legislation

Banning Books and the Law

Banning Books and the Law
The First Amendment guarantees free speech, which extends to the school curriculum. It gives anyone living in the U.S., including students, the freedom to express any opinion they like. However, this right faces challenges regarding the content in school libraries. School board members and school officials are influenced by state law, the local board of education, and local sentiments. They often grapple with deciding which books are suitable for students who are also minors.

Congress.Gov
Legislative activities of the federal government. Search bills, committee reports, etc.
H.Amdt.237 — 118th Congress (2023-2024)
Description: An amendment numbered 35 printed in House Report 118-142 to prohibit the Department of Defense Education Activity schools from purchasing and having pornographic and radical gender ideology books in their libraries.
Amends Bill: H.R.2670
H.Amdt.119 — 118th Congress (2023-2024)
An amendment numbered 9 printed in House Report 118-12 to provide that nothing in the Act, or the amendments made by this Act, should be construed as authorizing or granting parents the ability to deny any student who is not their own child from accessing any books or other reading materials otherwise available from.
Amends Bill: H.R.5
H.R.6830 - Books Save Lives Act
To require certain libraries to maintain a diverse collection of books, and for other purposes.

Georgia General Assembly
Search bills and resolutions from 2001 to present.
Senate Bill 394
Senate Bill 394 would create the Georgia Council of Library Materials Standards, whose members would be appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the House, House minority leader, and Senate minority leader.
S.B. 226
In April of 2022, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed Senate Bill (S.B.) 226 into law, which changes the process by which Georgia schools may ban books. This law, which went into effect at the beginning of this year, provides a streamlined process by which books can be banned in public schools.