The state’s Democratic Party is calling for opposition to draft legislation that would fine libraries for offering sexually explicit material to children.
The party in a Tuesday Facebook post urged people to keep momentum up after the state legislature’s joint Judiciary Committee tabled a version of its most recent obscenity bill during an August meeting.
The state party reiterated its call to action Wednesday in a statement to Cowboy State Daily, saying that legislation “has no place in a free society.”
“It’s not only an attack on free speech - it’s an attack on parental rights,” says the statement. “Wyomingites don’t appreciate politicians telling them how to think, what to say, or what to read.”
Some Republicans who sit on the joint Judiciary Committee told Cowboy State Daily it’s still their intention to move forward, even if the bill is amended.
Committee Co-Chair Rep. Art Washut, R-Casper, likened the bill to similar debates his classmates had when he was growing up.
“I'm old enough to remember when high school boys wanted Playboy magazine available in the school library,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “And the adults in charge threw the boys out of the office and said, ‘No way in the world, what a stupid idea.’”
Washut has been critical of past obscenity bill drafts, however – not over their mission but for what he cast as functional defects that would make enforcement arbitrary or impossible.
What The Recent Draft Says
The recent version of the draft bill, which was heavily debated by joint judiciary committee members and the public in August, would create penalties for libraries that offer books depicting various sexual acts to minors.
It would impose a $50,000 civil fine on the library for each offense, or each time a child accesses the material.
That provision provoked laughter in August, since schools could also be fined if this draft became law – and yet civil fines transfer into school coffers once paid.
Examples of “sexually explicit material” are defined in the draft. Broadly speaking, it includes various examples of sexual acts in words or pictures between two or more people.
The bill also would let people sue libraries. The courts “may order any injunctive or equitable relief, award damages, costs or 24 fees or order any other legal remedy permitted by law,” under that section, plus attorney fees.
Democratic Party's Call To Action
State Democratic officials said Wednesday that the draft is a waste of taxpayer dollars and legislative time, and an example of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus controlling Wyomingites’ lives and the content people can read.
“The idea that teachers and librarians should be personally liable for what’s on a library shelf is outrageous and, frankly, ridiculous - especially in a world where the internet exists,” the party’s statement says.
Rep. Tom Kelly, R-Sheridan, told Cowboy State Daily that many opponents are misinterpreting the bill.
He’s been at the receiving end of template-style emails in which people neglect to delete the “delete this text and insert your own message” phrase before sending their complaints.
That amuses Kelly, he said.
“It's not surprising to me,” Kelly said of the Democrats’ strategy. “Because very similar to the way you'll see the Republican Party working very closely with groups like The Gun Owners of America, the Democratic Party works with groups like the American Library Association and the National Education Association. And those groups are very much in favor of getting what we consider sexually explicit materials into the hands of minors.”
Kelly, like Washut, has been openly critical of poorly-crafted past bill drafts, while supportive of the overall mission of removing sexually-explicit material from kids’ sections of public and school libraries.
Kelly opined in a past iteration of his joint podcast Wide Right Turn that it was a nice change in August, to receive collaborative suggestions from some of the bill’s fiercest detractors.
Washut said he believes there are three core factions of opinions related to the bill – diehard supporters who don’t want their kids to have any sort of access; parents who appreciate the concept, but believe they can self-police; and a group that wants no sort of ban on any sort of explicit material.
“I suspect that many, if not most, of our libraries are already in compliance with this bill,” Washut said. “But there are some that are not that we've heard about and heard testimony about, and so this bill is about setting a baseline.”
Potential Changes, Potential Passage
The committee still can amend the bill to make it more functional. The legislature can also amend it at the lawmaking session that opens Feb. 9.
Kelly and Washut both said they expect changes during the joint judiciary meeting next week.
The $50,000 fine for each offense seems excessive, and there are also needs to be a process lined out for challenged materials, so a fine doesn’t automatically occur, and lawsuits don’t quickly happen and jam the courts, Washut said.
Kelly said he’s unsure if the bill has a chance in a budget session, where two-thirds of both the Senate and House must vote to introduce a non-budget bill for consideration. But, Washut said, if the committee makes sensible enough changes, it could have a chance at getting to Gov. Mark Gordon’s desk.
It might be harder than it was years ago, especially compared with bills introduced by individual legislators, he said.
“We’ve seen recently that just because a bill is sponsored by a committee, doesn't necessarily mean it gets the skids grease like it once did,” Washut said.
State Democratic officials know that Republicans have the supermajority in the legislature, but hope their legislators can offer amendments or otherwise kill the proposal before it reaches the floor next year.
“They continue to do what they do best - finding practical solutions, working across the aisle, and reducing the harm caused by extremist legislation,” party officials said in a statement. “We trust them to do everything possible to protect Wyomingites’ rights and freedoms.”
Washut, conversely, said opponents are overreacting to a bill that isn’t as far-reaching as they believe.
“I think a lot of people are worried that we're crafting a really broad bill that's going to have implications for all sorts of materials in our libraries,” he said. I think when the list comes out, you know what individual libraries are moving to the adult section? I think it's going to be a fairly short list.”
The joint judiciary committee is scheduled to meet Oct. 13 in Cheyenne.
Steve Bohnel can be reached at steve@cowboystatedaily.com.
