Delaware enshrines the prevention of ideological book bans in public and school libraries and builds upon its laws protecting residents from freedom of speech lawsuits.
The two bills were signed into law Monday by Gov. Matt Meyer, who says both pieces of legislation will ensure "Delaware's kids know the power of reading and the power of using their voice."
"It's important that these kids see books that speak to them and that make them feel good about who they are and who they aspire to be, and books can do that, and libraries do all of that," Gov. Meyer said during the bill signing ceremony at Joseph E. Johnson Elementary. "Our libraries have the potential to empower the next generation of Delawareans to think critically, to ask important questions and grow into the type of empathetic citizens and leaders we want them to be, and that's not going to happen if we isolate or exclude certain texts or ideas from our public spaces."
The Freedom to Read Act was passed with some bipartisan support in the General Assembly and ensures books are not removed from public and school libraries for identity-based, ideological or religious reasons.
Delaware State Education Association (DSEA) President Stephanie Ingram, who leads a union of over 14,000 educators statewide, says censorship and book ban efforts are the byproduct of a culture war that seeks to silence opposing perspectives.
"Over the last five years, we have seen a massive surge of book bans and other forms of censorship in libraries across the country. Most of these efforts sprang up from newly formed pressure groups and individual ideologues, and most of those efforts are focused on eradicating LGBTQ+ voices and people of color," Ingram said. "The Freedom to Read Act creates a simple, fair, and uniform process that all of our libraries can follow to safely cultivate and nurture their collections, free from the influence of manufactured controversies and political partisanship.”
The new law is largely a proactive measure for Delaware libraries, as only one instance of book removals has been publicly reported within the state — those books were returned to the shelves within months.
Under the new law, school districts and charter schools must develop policies and procedures to review objections to material in school libraries.
The bill ensures library materials under review due to an objection from a member of the public must remain available for use by public library patrons until the review process is concluded — only a resident, business owner, property owner of the area the public library serves or a taxpayer of a library district financing a library may submit an objection to material in that library.
"We're standing in a state, the First State, a state in which we're facing a literacy crisis and banning books is highly unproductive in addressing our literacy crisis holistically, systemically and systematically, which is what I am here to do with all of you," said Delaware's Education Secretary Cindy Marten. "Not just here in this library, but here in this state, here on this earth, here in partnership with our educators, our elected our appointed leaders — we know what to do to address literacy, and this takes us one step forward."
Gov. Meyer also signed a bill that protects the public’s right to engage in activities protected by the First Amendment without expensive legal retaliation.
The Uniform Public Expression Protection Act builds upon Delaware's existing laws that protect residents from strategic lawsuits against public participation, also known as anti-SLAPP legislation.
Delaware’s existing anti-SLAPP law received a D- from the Institute for Free Speech due to the limited types of speech it protects, and State Sen. Spiros Mantzavinos’ new bill provides more robust protections.
While SLAPPs often appear as defamation, privacy or nuisance claims, Mantzavinos argues these lawsuits are really aimed at stopping constitutionally protected speech and can often be costly to the defendant.
He points out the bill passed unanimously in both chambers with one Republican member of the House abstaining.
“So these are very important signals that here, at least here in the First State, Democrats, Republicans, folks from across the ideological spectrum can come together and agree on one thing, our speech. Free speech is important, free speech needs to be protected," Sen. Mantzavinos said.
Similar legislation has been adopted by 10 states, including New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and is currently pending in 10 other states.
