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Vermont House rejects amendments to expand parental access age and import obscenity definition into library policy; S.220 passes
Summary
Lawmakers declined two proposed amendments to S.220 — one to raise the parental-access age from 12 to 14 and one to apply the criminal statute definition of "obscene" to school/library selection policies — and approved the underlying bill on third reading.
Representative Peterson (member from Clarendon) offered a two-part amendment to S.220, the bill updating public-library and school-library material-selection rules. Peterson proposed raising the age at which custodial parents may access a minor's library records from 12 to 14 and adding language requiring school library selection policies to exclude ‘‘materials defined as obscene pursuant to 13 V.S.A. § 2804(b).’’
The House divided the amendment into its two instances for separate votes. In arguing for the age change, Peterson said the 14-year threshold is “a compromise between 16, which is what's in statute now, and 12,” and framed it as “a parental rights issue.” The House…
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