Capitol Beat: Bill to jail librarians for "dirty books"moving thru Gen Assy.

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Georgia bill could expose librarians to criminal charges for 'harmful' books

Ty Tagami

Capitol Beat News Service

Feb. 5, 2026, 11:36 a.m. ET

ATLANTA — Legislation that seeks to expose librarians to criminal prosecution for loaning the wrong books to children has resurfaced at the Georgia Legislature.

Senate Bill 74 passed the state Senate last year, the first half of the biennial legislative session, and now it is advancing through the House.

The senator sponsoring the bill said library books have become a controversial topic in the area he represents, which is between Augusta and Savannah. Constituents complained, so he investigated and decided that it was wrong to exempt librarians from the law.

“The objective is simple: protect children from harm,” said Sen. Max Burns, R-Sylvania. He said he knows his legislation is controversial, given the volume of comments on both sides of the issue before it passed the Senate last year. More than a couple of dozen spoke both for and against the measure during public comment about it this week.

 

“I have a hard time understanding why people oppose protecting children,” he said.

Georgia law makes it a crime to knowingly give minors any material that is deemed to be “harmful” to them in a sexual way. Librarians are exempt from prosecution for the crime, which is categorized as a “high and aggravated” misdemeanor. Punishment can include up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

One library director testified that such a reputational stain would also cost a librarian his or her license to work.

Burns’ bill advanced after a close partisan vote from a House subcommittee on Tuesday and is set for a hearing by a full House committee on Thursday. It could soon get a vote on the House floor.

 

Burns has tweaked his bill since last year, leaving librarians shielded when they can demonstrate that they tried to have questionable material submitted for review.

Proponents of the measure say they want “pornography” to be inaccessible to children.

“Kids are being exposed to pornography at such an early age,” said Mike Griffin, lobbyist for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. This drives them to commit sexual abuse against peers, he testified Tuesday. “It’s so very important that we deal with limiting this type of access because it’s creating perpetrators.”

Other faith-based advocacy groups back the bill, too.

 

Lucia Frazier, who described herself as a “simple mom,” said children were being exposed to what she saw as “immoral” books in schools.

“I don’t think the curriculum should even have anatomy,” she said. “There is a level of conservatism that we need to go back towards. I think we’re way out of line.”

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One critic of the legislation labeled it “authoritarian.” Retired middle school librarian Susan McWethy said those who favor it want to impose their morality on everyone else, with librarians caught in the middle.

Children need access to reliable information about difficult topics such as addiction, gender dysphoria, and sexuality, she said, and it is the responsibility of librarians to provide it.

“But somehow I feel these very topics will be under attack by the censorship police,” she said, “placing librarians in impossible situations — whether to follow their professional expertise or capitulate to others who have narrow agendas and want to foist their ideologies on everyone else.”

The legislation maintains the shield from prosecution when librarians are “not aware” that harmful material is available in their library.

But Mike Cooper, a trustee of the DeKalb County Public Library system, worried that an “overzealous” prosecutor would assert that an accused librarian must have been aware.

How does a librarian defend themselves, he wondered, using the venue — a roomful of lawmakers in the Capitol — to drive his point home.

“Librarians do their best to survey the materials they have,” Cooper said, “but they can’t read every word and every book just as I’m sure you don’t know every word in every piece of legislation approved under the Gold Dome.”

 

The bill’s supporters said it would be the responsibility of the state to prove an accused librarian was guilty of knowingly distributing harmful material to minors.

But Rep. Esther Panitch, D-Sandy Springs, who voted against the measure, said librarians would have to produce evidence of their ignorance.

She asked Cooper a rhetorical question: “Are you aware of any society where banning books has resulted in anything good?”

This prompted Rep. Rob Leverett, R-Elberton, a member of the same legislative subcommittee, to say that he did not think the legislation said anything about banning books.

“Now admittedly,” he added, “it does require you to undertake a greater qualitative review than I think most librarians are comfortable making.”