Librarians and schools weary from escalating efforts to ban books have new protections under legislation Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law Monday.
The “Freedom to Read Act” limits book bans in public schools and libraries and shields librarians from lawsuits and criminal charges filed by folks who find library materials obscene or otherwise objectionable.
Murphy signed the bill in the children’s section of the Princeton Public Library, surrounded by a crowd of smiling librarians, lawmakers, civil liberties advocates, and parents.
“This law will strengthen, not diminish, the rights of parents to choose what reading materials their children should or should not have access to by ensuring that every family can make their own determination about what books are appropriate for a child,” Murphy said.
Under the new law, the state’s education commissioner — in consultation with the state librarian, the New Jersey School Boards Association, and the New Jersey Association of School Librarians — will develop policies on how library materials are selected and how challenges to books on library shelves should be evaluated. Local school boards and library boards then must adopt their own policies using this model.
The law also bars school and library boards from removing books because of the “origin, background, or views” of the material or those contributing to its creation, and allows only people with a “vested interest” to challenge a book in a school library.
It also gives librarians and library staff immunity from civil and criminal liability for “good faith actions.”
It will take effect in one year, giving state education officials and libraries time to devise the required policies.
Republicans and conservative activists have fought the measure, warning it would give children access to obscene materials and protect librarians who share obscene books with children.
But Sen. Andrew Zwicker (D-Middlesex) said the new law, which he introduced, is a “bold response to this growing wave of censorship.” Many of the 10,000-plus book bans reported during the 2023-24 school year were of books with characters or themes centered on people of color and the LGBTQ community, he added.
“That is not a coincidence. These bans are a deliberate effort to erase voices and perspectives that challenge the status quo, often under the guise of protecting children from discomfort,” Zwicker said.
Zwicker said he was inspired to draft the legislation after hearing Martha Hickson, a recently retired librarian, speak.
Hickson, who successfully fought efforts to ban five LGBTQ-themed books at North Hunterdon High School, got hate mail, was shunned by colleagues and antagonized by administrators, and endured calls for her firing and arrest.
She was there Monday to watch Murphy sign the bill into law.
“I’m certainly not the only victim of these politically motivated attacks,” Hickson said. “The students I serve feel the pain, too, when the books that describe their lived experience were called disgusting, obscene, and depraved. Students recognized that those insults were also intended for them.”
She applauded the new law and shook Murphy’s hand as he gave her the pen he used to sign it.
“New Jersey citizens now have protections to read about the topics that interest them in their libraries. When concerns about books arise, parents now have a clear process for raising issues without resorting to bullying. And for librarians across the state, the dignity of our work will now be recognized and preserved,” she said. “All of that is truly cause for celebration.”
The bill signing received boos from three GOP lawmakers — Sen. Parker Space and Assembly members Dawn Fantasia and Michael Inganamort — who said the law will eliminate protections that have kept obscene material out of the hands of children.
“Our school libraries are meant to be a peaceful place for learning, not littered with lewd or inappropriate materials that distract from a child’s education,” they said in a joint statement. “Enabling the distribution of obscene material is reprehensible, but absolving accountability for its distribution is heinous and inexcusable.”
The law was a bit pared-down from what its sponsors initially intended. To appease critics, Zwicker and his bill co-sponsors Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex) and Assemblywoman Mitchelle Drulis (D-Somerset) removed language that would have amended the state’s obscenity statute to add protections for librarians and teachers and state anti-discrimination law to bar employers from considering librarians’ actions on book removal requests in hiring decisions.
The bill ultimately passed the Legislature after lengthy committee hearings largely along party lines, with the Senate approving it in October by a 24-15 vote and the Assembly voting 52-20 for it in June.
A poll released earlier this year showed most New Jersey residents are concerned about book bans, with more worried about censorship than classroom content.
Amol Sinha, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, said book bans are related to attacks on other freedoms that have sprung up in recent years as politics have become more polarized — and will worsen under President-elect Donald Trump’s second term.
“There’s a subset of the population that wants to control what children have access to, regardless of whether or not they parent those children. Whether we’re talking about book bans or sex ed or abortion rights or critical race theory or DEI initiatives, those are all part of the same ecosystem,” Sinha said.
The new law protects the freedom of intellectual choice, he added.
“No one parent or no one community member gets to decide what books are appropriate for everybody in that community,” he said.
New Jersey Monitor is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Jersey Monitor maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Terrence T. McDonald for questions: info@newjerseymonitor.com. Follow New Jersey Monitor on Facebook and X.
