Governor Kelly Armstrong vetoes SB2307!

The bill was returned to Legislature but did not receive the 2/3 majority required from both the House and Senate to override the governor’s decision. This is good news for North Dakota public and school libraries, and for the communities they serve!

SB2307 would require public libraries to remove any “explicit sexual” and “lacking in serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value” materials. The consequences of this bill would require libraries throughout North Dakota to either build costly barriers to restrict patron access to collections or possibly prohibit minors from entering their building altogether – all to ensure compliance with the law. Additionally,
the North Dakota Attorney General must investigate any complaint about whether a library had allowed minors access to explicit sexual material, and to halt distribution of state funds to the offending library until the situation is rectified. SB2307 has an estimated fiscal impact of $2 million, which doesn’t include library costs for staff going through material, library remodeling, or the cost of course cases for book challenges.
According to the bill, anyone (including out-of-state residents) could ask a library to review material they consider offensive!

Libraries are required to follow the Federal Miller Rule, a legal standard established by the Supreme Court to define what constitutes obscene materials. It is used to determine if a book can be considered legally obscene and subject to restrictions. North Dakota public libraries submit an annual report to their governing body (ex: city government) and to the ND State Library who review to assure compliance.
The report includes a summary of the library activities, programming, circulation, visitation, finances, staffing, and holdings.