Lawmakers in West Virginia have proposed criminal penalties on public institutions that distribute obscene material to children.
House Bill 4654 would amend a current state code to remove “bona fide schools, public libraries, and museums” from the list of exemptions to the rule.
Schools are currently permitted to distribute material that could be considered obscene if they are part of the local or state curriculum. Libraries and museums in the state are allowed to display or distribute obscene material if minors are accompanied by a parent.
Obscenity laws in West Virginia are punishable by up to $25,000 in fines or a maximum of five years in prison.
The first public hearing on the proposal was held on Jan. 24. State Delegate Brandon Steele, the bill’s sponsor, said he was prompted after hearing concerns from school and public librarians in his community.
“They’ve talked to me about some of the materials that are coming in to the libraries these days,” Steele said, per WV Public. “The law that we have on the books was designed, you know, back in the 70s, and 80s, where the topic was more along the lines of sex education and things like that, things that were a little more innocuous. What our librarians that are talking to me are seeing ... coming in, is material that is outright pornography.”
Some Democrat delegates oppose the bill on First Amendment grounds.
Delegate Joey Garcia called the proposal a “flat-out book ban.”
“It’s really weaponizing the government, weaponizing criminal law to attack professionals that are librarians that are educators in our schools that are in museums with respect to obscenity, and that’s just such a very vague standard right now,” he said during a debate. “This would make criminal prosecution possible, which is going to chill free speech.”
“Everybody agrees pornographic material should not be displayed toward children. You would have 100 votes on that tomorrow,” said House Minority Whip Shawn Fluharty, per WV Metro News. “This bill goes well beyond that.”
“This bill would have significant impact on, potentially, the Bible or other material that may or may not be deemed to be obscene,” continued Fluharty. “That is very much a gray area. That is to push political ideologies. That is big government at work.”
WV Metro News reported on Jan. 24 that “about half of the speakers at the public hearing favor the move” while “the other half warned that opening up libraries to potential prosecution would result in a chilling effect.”
At one point during the hearing, West Virginia resident Cara Butler read a passage describing oral sex from the House podium.
“We need to return to a God-fearing country,” she said. “Do you think God is happy with this?”
Following the public hearing, the bill will go to the state’s Judiciary Committee for debate.
