HB900, another censorship bill, passed last Thursday in the Texas House. The votes for this bill included “yes” votes by 12 Democrats. 

“Legal experts, librarians and some parents...fear vendors will designate a book as “sexually explicit” or “sexually relevant” because it deals with LGBTQ subject matter." 

"Titles targeted by book bans tend to center protagonists of color and tackle LGBTQ issues, race and racism, and teen pregnancy, State Representative Ron Reynolds said during debate.” The standards used in the bill are vague and broad which will result in many books being banned that shouldn’t be. 

Save the date: May 13th CVPE General Meeting (takeover, funding, state lege) at noon on zoom. RSVP here. 
Read more about how you can refuse the STAAR at optouttexas.org. 

CVPE member Lisa Robinson writes that there is much to be concerned about with this bill.

"This bill purports to keep sexually explicit books out of our school libraries by requiring vendors to rate and label such books and then banning the purchase of such books for school libraries. Any such material already found in library collections must be “recalled” by the vendors who sold them to the school library in question. The bill is unnecessary as any book can already be challenged under school district policies. 

Diverse books that need to be in the hands of our students will no longer be in our school libraries because either they have been found to be “sexually explicit” (or “sexually relevant”, another vague term used in the bill) or districts (as well as vendors and publishers) will engage in self-censor."

Twelve Democrats voted YES on HB900 in its final House vote (one more than on the initial vote). There are three from Houston: Allen (HD 131) (flipped from initial vote), Dutton (HD 142) and Thierry (HD 146). The others are Collier (HD 95–Ft Worth), King (HD 80–Laredo), Longoria (HD 35–Penitas), Morales (HD 74–Eagle Pass), Munoz (HD 36–Mission), Ordaz Perez (HD 79–El Paso), Raymond (HD 42–Laredo), Romero (HD 90–Ft Worth), and Sherman (HD 109–Lancaster).

Please reach out to your representatives to let them know how you feel about their vote. Tell your senators to vote NO when the bill reaches the Senate floor. The Senate school library bill (SB13) has different (but very concerning) provisions, has already passed the Senate, and has crossed over to the House."

For more information regarding all bills related to our #righttoread, visit this website: https://txla.org/advocacy/texas-legislative-session/library-related-issues