Illinois lawmakers push back on library book bans

By CLAIRE SAVAGE
Associated Press/Report for America

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois lawmakers approved a measure requiring libraries to adopt an anti-book banning policy in order to receive state funding, in a Wednesday vote that fissured along party lines. The bill now heads to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who said he looks forward to signing it. The legislation, spearheaded by Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias and sponsored by Chicago-area Sen. Laura Murphy, a Democrat, represents a counter-movement to growing efforts to restrict books on topics such as race, gender and sexuality in U.S. schools and libraries. Illinois state Sen. Jason Plummer, a Republican who opposed the bill, said it is “offensive to the ideals of good government to threaten to take public funding away from the very communities that generated that funding through their taxes.”