NJ Senate passes Freedom to Read Act ⋆ Princeton, NJ local news %

By Jenna Rittman for the NJ State Capitol News Service

The New Jersey Senate on Monday passed the Freedom to Read bill, sponsored by Sen. Andrew Zwicker (D-Mercer, Hunterdon, Somerset, Middlesex), which would limit book bans in public schools and libraries and protect librarians from lawsuits and criminal charges.

Instructing libraries to offer a wide variety of books and not to exclude materials simply because they are controversial or might offend someone, the bill provides librarians with immunity from civil or criminal liability for doing their jobs in good faith. The bill is currently on the governor’s desk for signature.

“You and all New Jerseyans have the freedom to choose what you want to study, and parents have and will continue to have the freedom to choose what their children study. But no one can decide this for you; Not now, not ever,” Zwicker said.

Zwicker brought the school librarian Martha Hickson He took to the Senate floor for debate on the bill, saying he had been threatened and harassed for taking a stand against potential censorship.

Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Middlesex, Morris, Somerset, Union), a co-sponsor of the bill, said the legislation includes new standards for age-appropriate materials.

“Right now, no board of education in the wild, wild West can set the standard, and we say, ‘It’s about time,’” Bramnick said before the vote. he said.

Conservative activists across the country are increasingly trying to ban print materials they deem obscene, profane or inappropriate for young readers. Librarians, educators and others support legislation restricting such efforts.

The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 24 to 15, with heavy opposition from Republicans. GOP lawmakers said they feared the law would allow children to access sexually explicit materials and protect librarians who share sexually explicit books with children.

Sen. Michael Testa (R-Vineland), one of the bill’s opponents, said sexually explicit materials are available in New Jersey schools and that the bill would give librarians immunity from New Jersey’s obscenity law or “any other law intended to protect us.” kids.”

“I don’t want adults introducing obscene things to children,” Testa said during the floor discussion. “How exactly does a person distribute sexually explicit material to a child in good faith? “I also think it’s incredibly significant that if some of these sexually explicit materials were shown to a child by a neighbor, that person would be charged with a Megan’s Law offense, and rightly so.”

Guy Citron, who attended the voting session and supports the bill seeking the House seat for the 23rd District as a Democrat in 2025, said in an interview that extremists are lying about the content of the books, calling them pornographic even though they are not.

“These books are educational and for people to learn all kinds of things about gender and identity,” Citron said.

According to the bill, school boards will cooperate with librarians when selecting, purchasing or acquiring books in libraries.

The NJ State House News Service is a collaborative effort of professional and student journalists at NJ colleges and universities in partnership with local media.

Send your photos, news story, blog post, news tip, document, news request or letter to the editor to [email protected]. Please add your contact information. Letters must be between 200 and 750 words. Add events to our community calendar by following the “add event” link in our navigation menu. Thank you for reading and contributing to Planet Princeton.