CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Gov. J.B. Pritzker made Illinois the first state in the nation to pass legislation meant to stop book bans at publicly funded libraries on Monday, when he signed House Bill 2789 into law.
It happened at Harold Washington Library in the Loop. Prior to signing the bill, Pritzker said there were 67 attempts to ban books in Illinois in 2022.
“Books about coming of age and mental health,” he said. “Books about LGBTQ+ kids and teens; books about the Black experience and racism.”
House Bill 2789 prevents grant funding to libraries that fail to follow the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights, which states that reading materials should not be removed or restricted due to partisan or personal disapproval.
The bill passed the Illinois House of Representatives in late March on a vote that followed party lines, with Democrats in support and Republicans in opposition. It similarly passed the Illinois Senate on May 3.
“Illinois’ young people shouldn’t be kept from learning about the realities of the world,” Pritzker said Monday. “I want them to become critical thinkers, exposed to ideas that they disagree with, proud of what our nation has overcome and thoughtful about what comes next.”
The governor, with pen in hand, added that “regimes ban books, not democracies.”
Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, who also serves as the state librarian, conceived the law and joined the governor at the signing.
“The concept of banning books contradicts the very essence of what our country stands for,” he said. “It also defies what education is all about: teaching our children to think for themselves.”
Giannoulias said the recent push in some states to ban books have made libraries, and librarians, targets for harassment.
“Just because books aren’t burned in a local town square doesn’t make restricting public access to them any less acceptable,” he said. “Parents — and only parents — have the right and the responsibility to restrict their childrens’ — and only their childrens’ — access to library resources.”
As Pritzker signed the bill, he said it signaled that Illinois was “showing the nation what it really looks like to stand up for liberty.”
“It’s as simple as that,” he said.
The text of the bill may be found here.