Today, 19 organizations, including the National Coalition Against Censorship, sent a letter to the Florida House of Representatives urging them to vote no on H.B. 1539. The bill, if enacted, would require school districts to remove any instructional or library material challenged as “harmful to minors” within just five days, regardless of whether the material has been properly reviewed. The bill’s new definition of what constitutes “harmful to minors” deviates from the constitutional standard that has been used in Florida for over 30 years. By explicitly prohibiting consideration of a work’s literary, artistic, political, or scientific value when sexual content is present, it increases the likelihood of arbitrary and unjustified book removals.
Read the full letter to the Florida House of Representatives here:
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