Little signs Children's School and Library Protection Act

BOISE —  Idaho House Bill 710, called the Children’s School and Library Protection Act, will become law after Gov. Brad Little signed it earlier today.

“I share the cosponsors’ desire to keep truly inappropriate library materials out of the hands of minors. That said, I still believe a greater harm confronts our children — content accessible to them on their phones and devices,” Little wrote in a letter to lawmakers.

Idaho Family Policy Center said it was directly responsible for mobilizing over 3,000 Idahoans to contact Little’s office in support of this legislation over the last week.

"Now, parents will no longer need to worry that their children will stumble across pornographic materials while using public school and community libraries," said Blaine Conzatti, president of Idaho Family Policy Center. "Pornography has no place in schools or public libraries – period. No child should ever encounter sexually explicit books at taxpayer-funded schools or community libraries."

Children’s School and Library Protection Act creates civil liability for public schools and community libraries that fail to take reasonable steps to restrict children’s access to pornographic materials.

The bill was sponsored by Rep. Jaron Crane (R-Nampa), Rep. Mike Moyle (R-Star), Sen. Cindy Carlson (R-Riggins), and Sen. Chuck Winder (R-Meridian).

Last year, Idaho Family Policy Center released a report identifying more than 55 public schools and community libraries statewide that make pornographic material available to minor children, a press release said.

More than 74% of likely Idaho voters believe that public schools and community libraries should keep pornographic materials away from minor children, according to statewide public opinion polling commissioned last year by Idaho Family Policy Center.