North Dakota Republican Governor Kelly Armstrong vetoed a bill this week that would have required school districts to keep books determined to be “sexually explicit” out of the reach of students, saying that the bill was a “misguided” attempt to “legislate morality.”
Armstrong on Tuesday vetoed Senate Bill 2307, which would have prohibited school districts from maintaining “explicit sexual material” in classrooms and libraries and would allow concerned parents and others to initiate a review of materials they believe may be in violation of the law. In his veto message, Armstrong said that enforcing the bill would be “unworkable” and infringed on free speech.
“While I recognize the concerns that led to its introduction, SB 2307 represents a misguided attempt to legislate morality through overreach and censorship. The bill imposes vague and punitive burdens on professionals and opens the door to a host of unintended and damaging consequences for our communities,” he wrote.
The legislation would have expanded on a law passed in 2023 that barred public libraries from keeping sexually explicit books in their children’s section. That law also requires public libraries to have a policy in place to keep explicit books out of the children’s section.
SB 2307 would have expanded those guidelines to school districts, requiring districts to ensure that students were not exposed to sexually explicit material through physical books or online resources offered to them. Districts would also have been mandated to put policies in place to ensure compliance.
The proposal would have created a way for “interested parties” to challenge decisions made by schools, and given them an opportunity to appeal to an oversight board and the local state’s attorney. Local prosecutors would also have been given the power to prosecute for violations of the law.
The governor’s office told The Daily Wire it had no further comment on the legislation other than the veto message.
In that message, Armstrong called the legislation “redundant” and “overly burdensome,” saying that it could lead to “the next literary masterpiece” being kept out of North Dakota libraries. He also believed it would open up a floodgate of complaints for innocuous books that would bog down library and school officials.
“In today’s world of social media, streaming services, websites, cable TV and movies where profanity, drug use, violence and nudity are harder to avoid than to find, the amount of time, money and taxpayer resources spent on where a book is placed in a library would be better used elsewhere,” he wrote in his message.
The legislation had passed the Republican-dominated state Senate 27-20 and the House 49-45.
“We are harming our children, that’s all there is to it,” said state Senator Keith Boehm during a hearing on the proposal. “The bill is all about protecting kids from this material. It has nothing against adults.”
The issue of sexually explicit books has been a major concern across the country as parents have rallied to protect their kids from graphic material at both public and school libraries.
Armstrong also vetoed another Republican-backed piece of legislation this week. On Wednesday, he vetoed a school choice proposal that would have created Education Savings Accounts for private school students. The governor said that the bill failed to “deliver the school choice North Dakota needs, especially in rural areas where nonpublic school options are few and far between.” He asked lawmakers to send him a bill that would provide education vouchers to a broader swath of students.
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North Dakota Republican Governor Kelly Armstrong vetoed a bill this week that would have required school districts to keep books determined to be “sexually explicit” out of the reach of students, saying that the bill was a “misguided” attempt to “legislate morality.”
Armstrong on Tuesday vetoed Senate Bill 2307, which would have prohibited school districts from maintaining “explicit sexual material” in classrooms and libraries and would allow concerned parents and others to initiate a review of materials they believe may be in violation of the law. In his veto message, Armstrong said that enforcing the bill would be “unworkable” and infringed on free speech.
“While I recognize the concerns that led to its introduction, SB 2307 represents a misguided attempt to legislate morality through overreach and censorship. The bill imposes vague and punitive burdens on professionals and opens the door to a host of unintended and damaging consequences for our communities,” he wrote.
The legislation would have expanded on a law passed in 2023 that barred public libraries from keeping sexually explicit books in their children’s section. That law also requires public libraries to have a policy in place to keep explicit books out of the children’s section.
SB 2307 would have expanded those guidelines to school districts, requiring districts to ensure that students were not exposed to sexually explicit material through physical books or online resources offered to them. Districts would also have been mandated to put policies in place to ensure compliance.
The proposal would have created a way for “interested parties” to challenge decisions made by schools, and given them an opportunity to appeal to an oversight board and the local state’s attorney. Local prosecutors would also have been given the power to prosecute for violations of the law.
The governor’s office told The Daily Wire it had no further comment on the legislation other than the veto message.
In that message, Armstrong called the legislation “redundant” and “overly burdensome,” saying that it could lead to “the next literary masterpiece” being kept out of North Dakota libraries. He also believed it would open up a floodgate of complaints for innocuous books that would bog down library and school officials.
“In today’s world of social media, streaming services, websites, cable TV and movies where profanity, drug use, violence and nudity are harder to avoid than to find, the amount of time, money and taxpayer resources spent on where a book is placed in a library would be better used elsewhere,” he wrote in his message.
The legislation had passed the Republican-dominated state Senate 27-20 and the House 49-45.
“We are harming our children, that’s all there is to it,” said state Senator Keith Boehm during a hearing on the proposal. “The bill is all about protecting kids from this material. It has nothing against adults.”
The issue of sexually explicit books has been a major concern across the country as parents have rallied to protect their kids from graphic material at both public and school libraries.
Armstrong also vetoed another Republican-backed piece of legislation this week. On Wednesday, he vetoed a school choice proposal that would have created Education Savings Accounts for private school students. The governor said that the bill failed to “deliver the school choice North Dakota needs, especially in rural areas where nonpublic school options are few and far between.” He asked lawmakers to send him a bill that would provide education vouchers to a broader swath of students.
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