Take Action on HB29


THREE ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE TO STOP HB29

  1. CLICK HERE to send an email to Governor Cox and ask him to VETO HB29, Sensitive Materials Amendments.

  2. CALL GOVERNOR COX and ask him to VETO HB29 Sensitive Materials Amendments.

  3. SHARE THIS LINK with family and friends and ask them to send an email

KEY TALKING POINTS

  • Preserve local control: Eliminate any provision that requires and LEA to ban a book because other LEAs have banned it. Each LEA (i.e. school board) is entitled to set their own policies, and prioritize their own agendas. Requiring large school districts to remove books because three small districts (or two small districts and five charts) removed them is a violation of Utahn’s rights to local control.

  • Ensure books stay on shelves while being challenged: Eliminate any provision that requires books to be removed when challenged. This is a clear violation of state and federal law which both require a full “taken as a whole” “SLAPS test” analysis. Removing a book before a full analysis puts LEAs and taxpayers in jeopardy of expensive lawsuits.

ADDITIONAL TALKING POINTS

HB29 poses several concerning elements that undermine the First Amendment in our schools and pose Constitutional concerns.

  • IT ALLOWS MORE PEOPLE TO CHALLENGE BOOKS: HB29 broadens the group of people who are able to challenge books and instructional materials available in public and charter schools to include elected officials in addition to students, parents and LEAs.

  • VOIDS LOCAL CONTROL AND GIVES POWER TO BAN BOOKS STATEWIDE TO SMALL, UNREPRESENTATIVE SCHOOL DISTRICTS These challenges against instructional materials give certain individuals the power to suppress educational content for entire school districts, or even the entire state. This goes against the spirit of a diverse and inclusive education for all students and risks imposing localized biases on a broader scale, stifling diverse perspectives.

  • VIOLATES FIRST AMENDMENT LAW BY REQUIRING BOOK REMOVAL WHEN CHALLENGE IS MADE, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE BOOK HAS EDUCATIONAL VALUE. Challenges make objective sensitive materials immediately unavailable in schools, while other challenged materials undergo a subjective sensitive materials review process before being banned. Essentially, the bill would allow others to censor what your children get to read in schools or check out from their school library.

  • NOT EVERYONE CAN AFFORD TO BUY THE BOOK ON AMAZON… Supporters of the bill have countered that parents and children can still access books that may be banned from bookstores or public libraries, however many families lack the financial resources to purchase books or live in areas where there is not a public library nearby.

  • BOOK BANS TARGET LGBTQ+ AND BIPOC VOICES AND PERSPECTIVES In practice, book bans like this are often used to single out books and materials related to and authored by LGTBQ+ and BIPOC communities as “sensitive.”

At its core, the bill boils down to an attempt to ban books in our public and charter schools which violates our students’ First Amendment right to receive information or ideas in their schools. This bill would allow the government to suppress students’ right to read free from viewpoint-based censorship.