1. United States
2. Ga.
3. Letter

I'm requesting that you protect librarians, by opposing S.B.74. Since 1985, librarians have been exempt from Georgia’s “harmful to minors” bill. The current S.B. 74, which passed out of the House subcommittee this week, is an attempt to roll back those protections. Librarians in all public libraries would be stripped of those protections and subject to investigations and prosecution for distributing “obscene or harmful” materials to children. S.B. 74 does not provide for age appropriate materials. If passed, this law would require library workers to know the full content of thousands of books in their own library and possibly in the entire lending library system, an impossible task. Criminalizing librarians will not protect children. It will chill access to constitutionally protected speech, undermine public institutions, and invite costly litigation. Similar laws in other states have already been blocked by federal courts for violating the First Amendment. Libraries are a vital part of each community, and librarians are public servants who are trained to do their jobs. Our public libraries must be protected from ideological warfare and indiscriminate investigations and prosecutions. Please oppose S.B. 74.