West Fargo library officials warn proposed Senate Bill 2307 could add costs, age checks and physical separation of children’s materials

At the February meeting of the West Fargo Public Library Board of Directors, Library Director Jenna (last name not specified in the transcript) told the board she is tracking several state and local bills that could affect library operations, focusing on Senate Bill 2307 as the “major bill of concern” for the library.

Jenna said the state library appropriation (House Bill 1013) was moving through the Legislature and that the West Fargo library received $44,625.95 in state aid in 2024. She also summarized several Century Code “cleanup” bills (House Bills 1254 and 1420 and Senate Bill 2219) that mostly align statutory language with current State Library practice.

The board discussion centered on Senate Bill 2307, which Jenna said is written to “ultimately to protect minors from obscene materials” and would, as drafted, make a staff member guilty of “a class b misdemeanor for willfully displaying a book, magazine, DVD, etcetera, which contains explicit material deemed harmful to minors,” using the Miller test. The bill, Jenna said, would also apply to school districts and businesses and would require two compliance reports: one on collection development policy implementation and one on technology protection measures.

Jenna told the board that the proposal’s technology requirements could force libraries to implement age verification for online databases. She said ODIN, the statewide consortium that supplies many of the library’s databases, provided quotes estimating about $4,500 the first year, $3,500 in year two and about $30,700 in year three to add age verification. “It would cost us around $4,500 the first year, 3500 dollars year 2, 30 700 dollars year 3,” Jenna said.

She said the bill also calls for a physical separation of the children’s collection from young adult and adult collections. “Going with the strictest interpretation where we are looking for a physical barrier between those collections, that would mean that we would need to move all of our adult materials upstairs,” Jenna said, and warned that moving collections upstairs would reduce shelf space by about 25 percent and could eliminate public program and restroom access for children on the main level because the main-level restrooms are part of the school’s leased space.

Board member Robin Anderson urged members to contact legislators in opposition and noted the committee testimony was “overwhelmingly” from out of state in favor of the bill. Anderson also recalled past national controversies around Consumer Reports as historical context when discussing external pressure on library collections.

The board discussed practical concerns if the bill’s requirements are implemented: ODIN would need a common patron-type setup across libraries to use patron categories for filtering; smaller, volunteer-run libraries might lack funds to comply; and some databases (including Libby and certain news services) could be at risk if verification is required. Jenna said one change in the bill would require that patrons unsatisfied with a local reconsideration be directed to the attorney general for an opinion within 30 days.

The board did not take formal action on any of the bills during the meeting. Members discussed staying engaged through the City legislative committee and the North Dakota Library Association and noted Mayor Dardis previously submitted testimony in opposition to one city-level bill (House Bill 1141) that would limit use of public funds for memberships when organizations had backed ballot measures or candidates in the prior 10 years.

Board members agreed to remain informed and to submit testimony. Jenna said she and several board members had already submitted testimony opposing SB 2307. The board did not vote on any position at the meeting.

The legislative update also covered property-tax proposals (House Bill 1176) that could impose a 3 percent cap on tax increases and other local bills the City of West Fargo legislative committee is following.

The legislative discussion closed without a board vote; members were encouraged to contact legislators individually and monitor the bill status for crossover deadlines.