A bill that would make it easier to remove books in public schools after they’ve been challenged on the grounds of obscenity passed its first test in the Florida House.
Under the legislation, which was advanced by the Education Administration Subcommittee, district committees reviewing a book that’s been challenged wouldn’t be able to consider literary or artistic merit when deciding to remove it.
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Additionally, books that depict or describe sex in any way would have to be removed within five days of an objection and remain unavailable throughout the review process.
Republican state Rep. Doug Bankson, who represents parts of Orange and Seminole counties, introduced the bill (HB 1539).
“I think the desire is to protect our children, because it is about protecting their minds and seeing them be able to be educated in the best possible way,” said Bankson.
The measure would also require the Florida Department of Education to monitor each district's compliance with these new rules through audits and other reports.The department would send a warning letter and may withhold funding until compliance.
The district would be required to submit a corrective action plan, and additional sanctions could be placed if there is no progress shown toward this plan.
Democratic Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis voted against the bill. She said it’s unconstitutional and fails to uphold the Miller Test, a legal standard set by the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether material is obscene.
“It fails the third prong of the Miller Test and is a way to just ban more books," said Bracy Davis.
A companion bill in the Senate was temporarily postponed due to concerns regarding its constitutionality.
Only sexual education textbooks and other materials approved by the Florida Department of Education would be exempt.
In 2023, a Florida law took effect that required districts to have a process for challenging books. What followed were thousands of challenges.
PEN America, a nonprofit that advocates against "book bans," said Florida did more of them than any state in 2023 and 2024.
In 2024, Gov. Ron DeSantis urged the Legislature to put some restrictions in place for these objections after books like the Bible and dictionaries were challenged.
Legislators complied, limiting the number of challenges residents without children in a district could make to one per month.
That same year, the Florida Department of Education released a list of over 700 books that had been removed. Titles included Rupi Kaur’s poetry anthologies, "Milk and Honey" and "The Sun and Her Flowers" and classics like "The Handmaid’s Tale."
Both bills moving through the Legislature would define books "harmful to minors" as “any reproduction, imitation, characterization, description, exhibition, presentation or representation of whatever kind or form, depicting nudity, sexual conduct or sexual excitement.”
This content must also pass the following test to be considered objectionable:
- Predominantly appeals to prurient, shameful or morbid interest.
- Is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material or conduct for minors.
DeSantis and other Republicans who support the restrictions say that books in schools need to be age-appropriate for children.
Opponents say making it harder to read books, including some that are required reading in many other states, could hurt kids academically and put Florida students at a disadvantage.
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