Committee adopts substitute and advances bill to restrict school advertising and require local selection policies
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Summary
The House Education Committee adopted a fourth substitute to HB197 and recommended the bill favorably after hearing testimony from librarians, parents and vendors’ concerns; the measure seeks LEA policies for selection of school materials and prohibits targeted advertising in school instructional databases.
The House Education Committee on Tuesday adopted a fourth substitute to HB197, a measure the committee’s sponsor said is designed to keep instructional materials focused on education and to stop vendors from marketing directly to students through school databases.
The substitute responds to recommendations from last year’s sensitive‑materials audit by directing local education agencies to adopt policies for selecting and maintaining classroom and library collections and by barring vendors from selling or promoting goods through digital instructional materials provided to contracting entities. The sponsor told the committee UETN officials had indicated the provisions would be implementable.
Supporters at the committee said the bill would move libraries from a reactive challenge system toward proactive review. “We really appreciate that being heard,” Daniel L. Raven of the Utah Library Association told the committee, while librarians and parents described instances of students finding explicit material and urged pre‑screening policies to prevent initial circulation. Jean Rivera of Utah Moms for America cited the 2025 audit and said mandatory pre‑selection policies are needed because “explicit content remains just a shelf reach away.”
Opponents said the bill contains ambiguous language and could have unintended consequences for research and local librarianship. Chelsea Hagman, an elementary‑school librarian, asked members to vote no on the bill’s current language, warning that the AI/tool provisions could “prevent me from buying books with various perspectives and different cultures.” Other commenters raised fiscal concerns, saying compliance, training and monitoring could create new ongoing costs for small districts.
Committee members pressed sponsors on scope and implementation. Representative Hayes asked whether historical advertisements used as research sources would be affected; sponsors said school systems and UETN could remove contemporary paid ads and that the primary target is modern, paid advertising aimed at children in school systems. Representative Miller confirmed with the sponsor that review procedures are left to local control.
The committee adopted the 4th substitute and voted to recommend HB197 favorably to the full House (committee roll call reflected the recommendation as recorded in committee proceedings). The committee record notes dissenting votes on the recommendation.
What happens next: The bill will proceed to the House floor with a committee recommendation and may face further amendment and debate there.