The latest attempt to restrict which library materials can be accessed by those under 18 took a step back Thursday as a new compromise deal is expected to be introduced in the near future.
House Bill 384, which would have allowed any patron to force a public or private library to move whatever book, magazine or movie they wanted to an adult’s only section, now appears to be shelved.
House State Affairs Committee chairman, Rep. Brent Crane (R-Nampa), asked that the proposal be returned to his committee as the bill’s sponsor works out a new compromise.
The measure had been scheduled for debate later in the day.
It’s not immediately clear what the new legislation could look like.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jaron Crane (R-Nampa), and Sen. Geoff Schroeder (R-Mountain Home) both said they still needed to meet to finalize the draft language.
Both declined to share details of the deal until that happens.
The Idaho Library Association has also been invited to collaborate on the new bill, according to its president, Lance McGrath.
Last year, Schroeder voted against a similar proposal from Crane that included a higher fee.
“If we had simply struck and got rid of that incentivized cash prize, private right of action, this bill would be far more workable,” he said at the time.
Critics have described the private lawsuit component of the bill as a “bounty scheme.”
Crane’s current iteration of the bill only allows someone to sue a public or private library if they don’t move the “obscene” material to an adults-only section after 30 days from receiving written notice.
They could recover $250 and uncapped damages if they prevail in court.
Many of the materials that supporters of the measure point to as “harmful” to minors include LGBTQ themes. Some are sexual education materials.
The current bill defines any act of homosexuality as “sexual conduct,” which could include a same-sex couple kissing or holding hands.
Crane has also said his bill follows the three-pronged test to determine whether a book is obscene as laid out in the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Miller v. California.
But it only contains two of the three pieces of the so-called Miller test.
The third prong determines something to be obscene if it “lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value” when considered as a whole.
Crane shelved his latest proposal for now while discussions with Schroeder unfold.
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