A proposed bill that would apply obscenity laws to Louisiana public school libraries advanced through a House committee Tuesday while another bill that would apply obscenity laws to public libraries in the state was voluntarily deferred.
House Bill 545 by state Rep. Beryl Amedée, Republican from Gray, would make kindergarten through grade 12 public school libraries subject to obscenity laws.
Current obscenity laws exempt "recognized and established schools, churches, museums, medical clinics, hospitals, physicians, public libraries, governmental agencies, quasi-governmental sponsored organizations and persons acting in their capacity as employees or agents of such organizations, or a person solely employed to operate a movie projector in a duly licensed theatre."
Amedée's bill would remove public K-12 schools from the list of exempted entities.
State Rep. Josh Carlson, Republican from Lafayette Parish, voluntarily deferred a bill similar to Amedée's, House Bill 414, that would eliminate the exemption for public libraries. He did not return a call for comment on this story.
Amedée could provide no examples of obscene books in K-12 school libraries.
"Library discussions are all the rage," she told the committee. "I would prefer to be preemptive."
State Rep. Alonzo Knox, a Democrat from New Orleans, agreed with Amedée's concern over children possibly being exposed to graphic sexual material in school libraries. He requested she amend the bill to make private schools that receive state funding also subject to obscenity laws.
"I’m getting a little annoyed," he said, "at the appearance we're giving this session that we're picking on public schools."
Some great works of literature in public school libraries that may be of interest to high school students, including works by Hemingway and Faulkner, may contain passages that some find obscene, Rep. Vincent Cox III, Republican from Gretna, said.
The bill, Amedée said, doesn't prevent high school students from reading any books. It just prevents school librarians from providing those books, she said.
Following other questions from committee members, Amedée agreed to voluntarily defer the bill to find answers to questions like who would be charged if obscenity were found in a school library.
The committee instead approved 8-4 a motion by state Rep. Bryan Fontenot, Republican from Thibodaux, to report the bill favorably, with Amedée and others continuing work on the bill so as progress the bill before the session ends in June.
