Illinois becomes first state to prohibit book bans

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Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a bill into law that withholds state funds from any public or school libraries that do not explicitly forbid book censorship. Amid a surge of book bans across the United States, Illinois became the first state to push back against the phenomenon. 

Key Players

Over the past several months, Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) has addressed the rising trend of censorship in public schools. In June 2023, he joined several other governors in urging textbook publishers to avoid censorship when compiling educational materials.

Alexi Giannoulias, the Illinois secretary of state and state librarian, listed “enhancing libraries” as one of his top 11 priorities when he ran for his office in 2022. 

Further Details

In 2022, the American Library Association (ALA) recorded 67 attempts to ban books in  Illinois. Targeted books included To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. In March 2023, an ALA report indicated that 2,571 book titles across the country were targeted for censorship in 2022, a 38% increase from the year prior. Of the targeted titles, most were written by or about members of the LGBTQ+ community and people of color. Fifty-eight percent of censorship took place in school libraries and curricula, while 41% occurred in public libraries.

On June 12, 2023, Pritzker signed House Bill 2789 into law at the Harold Washington Library, the central library for the Chicago Public Library system.

The law was drafted by Giannoulias and sponsored by state Rep. Anne Stava-Murray (D) and state Sen. Laura Murphy (D), whose districts include Chicago suburbs Woodridge and Park Ridge.

Under the new law, all 1,600 public and school libraries in Illinois must explicitly prohibit censorship in order to receive state funding. One option is for libraries to adopt the ALA Library Bill of Rights, which “indicates materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.” The alternative allows individual libraries to develop their own written statements prohibiting book bans. 

Freedom of libraries to “acquire materials without external limitation” is a responsibility of the state, the law declares, stating that libraries must be “protected against attempts to ban, remove, or otherwise restrict access to books or other materials.”

“Parents, and only parents, have the right and the responsibility to restrict their children’s, and only their children’s, access to library resources,” Giannoulias said at the bill-signing ceremony. “In other words, you get to decide what’s right for your children, but you don’t get to make that decision for anyone else’s.” 

In the last fiscal year, Giannoulias’ office awarded over $62 million in grants to state libraries, with 97% of going to public and school libraries. 

Stava-Murray said she sponsored the bill because she believed in “an Illinois where children are not lied to — in which they are free to learn and explore, and in which everyone is equally free to speak and to be heard when they share their stories and unique lived experiences.” She added that library books should be chosen by librarians rather than “extremist politicians,” and that the law aims to help Illinois move in a “better direction” than other states that “choose to embrace prejudice and divisive ideologies.”

“I initiated this legislation to stand up and fight for libraries, librarians, and the freedom of speech – especially at this perilous time for our democracy,” Giannoulias declared, calling censorship contradictory to American values and antithetical to “what education is all about: teaching our children to think for themselves.” He said the law was “a triumph for our democracy, a win for First Amendment Rights, and a great victory for future generations.”

At the bill signing, Pritzker refuted the argument that book bans were intended to protect children, stating that they are about “marginalizing people, marginalizing ideas and facts.”

“Regimes ban books, not democracies,” Pritzker said. 

Outcome

Republican lawmakers criticize law

Opinions on the law were split along party lines. 

State Sen. Jason Plummer (R), whose district includes Greenville, a small Illinois city northeast of St. Louis, Mo., said Democratic lawmakers were “pushing an ideology on Illinois citizens, regardless of where they live or what they believe,” calling it “offensive to take away public funds from people whose taxes paid for these grants,” Politico reported.

House Minority Leader Tony McCombie (R), whose district encompasses the most northwestern part of the state, argued the law reduced “local control.” 

“Our caucus does not believe in banning books, but we do believe that the content of books should be considered in their placement on the shelves,” McCombie told The Associated Press. 

In an interview with ABC News, Giannoulias challenged the claim that this law restricted local control by posing the question, “What’s more local than a parent?” 

The law, which takes effect on Jan. 1, 2024, will be overseen and administered by Giannoulias and the Illinois State Library.

New Jersey follows suit

On June 1, a similar anti-book banning bill was introduced in the New Jersey Senate and was referred to its education committee.