League City’s proposed library ordinance draws protest amid fears of censorship

Library

Lauren Witte / The Texas Tribune

Books in Vandegrift High School Library March 2, 2022

League City leaders are considering setting up a new committee to review the consistency of materials in its public library, although such a group already exists and the move has been met with resistance from members of the community.

Elected officials in the community of about 112,000 residents southeast of Houston will consider Tuesday the establishment of a “Community Standards Review Committee” tasked with one of the responsibilities historically assigned to its existing library board.

City Councilman Chad Tressler called the proposed ordinance, which he opposes, unnecessary and a form of “political pandering.” He also said he was worried that the committee, most of whose members would be appointed by the League city’s mayor and approved by the city council, could be manipulated into censoring certain library materials, which could ultimately leave the city vulnerable to First Amendment lawsuits.

“Everyone who wants to create this new committee keeps saying that (the library board) has failed,” Tressler said. “They didn’t provide any evidence of that.”

The proposal for a new review committee comes just over two months after the city council voted 4 to 3 to pass a resolution stating that books deemed “obscene” should not be purchased with city funds and should be moved. from the children’s section to the adult section, if they are already in circulation. The proposed ruling at Tuesday’s meeting entails the creation of a new seven-member committee, as well as a new “Library Materials Contest Policy” that will govern the committee’s actions and decisions.

Under the proposed policy, materials will not be allowed in the children’s, youth, or teen sections of the League City Library if they contain “obscene or other content harmful to minors.” This would apply to content that “features pedophilia, incest, rape, or bondage” or “graphically discusses or depicts any type of sex or nudity or related topics where the target audience is under the age of 10,” according to the proposed policy.

Ironically, the League City Sunset Commission recently completed an audit of the city’s public library board of trustees, finding that the group is adequately fulfilling its mission. According to the online agenda for the city council meeting on Tuesday night, the League’s library board will be advised to continue until the next scheduled sunset review in 2027.

The development of libraries in League City caught the attention of the Texas American Civil Liberties Union, which submitted letters of objection to city officials before they passed the resolution in December and also ahead of the council’s meeting on Tuesday. ACLU attorney Chloe Kempf said federal courts have historically ruled that moving books from nursery to adult is a violation of the rights of community members under the First Amendment to the US Constitution.

Kempf also said that it is problematic that some terms in League City’s proposed library challenge policy, such as “obscene” and “other content harmful to minors”, are not clearly defined.

“When the law is vague, it involves arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement,” Kempf said. “So this committee that is being formed can impose their own views on what is appropriate and right to censor these books. This is exactly what the First Amendment prohibits. The government cannot remove books from the library simply because they don’t like the ideas contained in those books. .”

City Councilman Justin Hicks, who co-sponsored the December resolution and said he supported the proposed ordinance on Tuesday night’s agenda, said he was unfazed by potential legal issues, adding: “What are they going to do? Sue us for setting up a committee.” “No one has sued us over the resolution.”

Hicks also said that a new committee is needed to be tasked with reviewing library materials, citing shortcomings in the current review process. He said some members of the community told him that their previous concerns were not properly escalated by library staff to the library board and were therefore ignored.

He also said that library board members, due to their close association with the library, may be biased against certain materials.

“It removes bias in the library and allows ordinary citizens who didn’t work in the library to ultimately make a judgment on whether it’s obscene or not,” Hicks said of the proposed committee.

Tressler said he has no doubts about the appropriateness of the books already in the League City library because it must comply with state laws governing the placement of obscene material in public places such as public libraries.

He also described the situation as a natural cultural problem seeping into local governments. There were calls to remove books from public schools, as well as libraries across the country and in Texas. In Huntsville, north of Houston, last fall, the city ordered library staff to remove an LGBTQ+ Pride display and subsequently voted to transfer public library management to a private company.

“It’s a matter of national culture,” Tressler said. “This has nothing to do with the city authorities. I wish we could get back to our sidewalk repair schedule.”

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texasstandard.news contributed to this report.

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