Senate education committee adopts substitute for library materials bill, narrows reconsideration eligibility

The Alaska Senate Education Committee on March 23 adopted a committee substitute for Senate Bill 238, a bill addressing library material policies and censorship. President Stevens moved adoption of the substitute as the committee's working document, and the motion passed by unanimous consent with no roll-call recorded.

Jenna Calhoun, staff to Senator Scott Kawasaki, outlined the substitute's key changes. She said it "changes the responsibility of establishing and updating the model library curation policy from the commissioner of the Department of Education and Early Development to the director of the division of the department that has responsibility for state libraries, archives, and museums." Calhoun also described an alteration to the process for patrons to submit reconsideration requests: eligibility was tightened from someone who "has used the services of the public library in the past 5 years" to a person who "holds a current library card issued by the public library for at least 6 months." The substitute adds a definition of "director" to reflect that division-level role.

Calhoun said librarians and interested parties worked with the sponsor through the interim and are supportive of the legislation. President Stevens moved to report SB 238 from the committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes; Chair Senator Lukey Veil Tobin recorded no objection and asked members to remain to sign the committee report. The committee forwarded the substitute for further legislative consideration; no roll-call vote or vote tally was recorded in the committee record.