Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be added to present law.
*SSS313* 04/02/2025 3:37:21 PM SSS313
State of Arkansas 1
95th General Assembly A Bill 2
Regular Session, 2025 HOUSE BILL 1977 3
4
By: Representative Bentley 5
By: Senator A. Clark 6
7
For An Act To Be Entitled 8
AN ACT TO CREATE THE PROTECTING CHILDHOOD INNOCENCE 9
IN LIBRARIES ACT; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. 10
11
12
Subtitle 13
TO CREATE THE PROTECTING CHILDHOOD 14
INNOCENCE IN LIBRARIES ACT. 15
16
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: 17
18
SECTION 1. DO NOT CODIFY. Legislative findings. 19
The General Assembly finds that: 20
(1) Parents of young children have a right to determine when and 21
how their children should be educated about sex; 22
(2) Children’s sections of public libraries and public school 23
libraries have traditionally taken care to curate materials that are age -24
appropriate for children; 25
(3) Exposure to a wide range of books is important for the 26
educational development of Arkansas children; 27
(4) Children should be able to freely browse books within a 28
children’s library section without exposure to sexually explicit material or 29
to sex education materials without parental consent; and 30
(5) Taxpayer-funded libraries should assist parents in 31
facilitating educational opportunities for their children by ensuring 32
children’s library sections provide age -appropriate materials free of 33
sexually explicit material. 34
35
SECTION 2. DO NOT CODIFY. Title. 36 HB1977
2 04/02/2025 3:37:21 PM SSS313
This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Protecting Childhood 1
Innocence in Libraries Act". 2
3
SECTION 3. Arkansas Code Title 6, Chapter 21, Subchapter 1, is amended 4
to add an additional section to read as follows: 5
6-21-122. Sexually explicit material in children's library areas 6
prohibited —— Cause of action —— Definitions. 7
(a) A public school library in this state shall take reasonable steps 8
to ensure that sexually explicit material is not located on open shelving 9
within children’s library areas. 10
(b) Sex education materials shall not be placed on open shelving 11
within a children’s library section but may be made accessible or checked out 12
by a child twelve (12) years of age or under upon parent or guardian request. 13
(c)(1) A parent or guardian whose child has been exposed to sexually 14
explicit material in a children’s section of a library has a private cause of 15
action for damages and declaratory and injunctive relief against a public 16
school library that fails to take reasonable steps to place only age -17
appropriate materials in a children’s library section. 18
(2) A civil action brought under subdivision (c)(1) of this 19
section shall be commenced within two (2) years of the date of the cause of 20
action. 21
(3) An individual who prevails in a civil action under 22
subdivision (c)(1) of this section may recover from the public school library 23
that failed to take reasonable steps to avoid placing sexually explicit 24
material on open shelving within a children’s library section: 25
(A) Reasonable attorney fees; and 26
(B) Costs. 27
(d) As used in this section: 28
(1) “Age-appropriate material” means materials primarily for 29
children twelve (12) years of age and under that are free of sexually 30
explicit material; 31
(2) “Children’s library section” means sections of a library 32
that are organized primarily for children twelve (12) years of age and under; 33
(3) “Open shelving” means library shelving and library displays 34
where materials can be freely accessed by children without assistance; 35
(4) “Sex education materials” means materials that are designed 36 HB1977
3 04/02/2025 3:37:21 PM SSS313
to educate students about the facts of sexual reproduction; and 1
(5)(A) “Sexually explicit material” means material that depicts 2
or describes with a high level of graphic detail or descriptive language: 3
(i) The penetration of the anus or mouth of a person 4
by the penis of another person; 5
(ii) The penetration of the labia majora or anus of 6
a person by any bodily member or foreign instrument manipulated by another 7
person; or 8
(iii) Sexually explicit conduct as defined in § 5 -9
27-302. 10
(B) "Sexually explicit material" does not include: 11
(i) Sex education material; or 12
(ii) Material that mentions an occurrence of sexual 13
intercourse, sexual acts, or sexual attraction without a high level of 14
graphic detail or descriptive language. 15
16
SECTION 4. Arkansas Code Title 13, Chapter 2, Subchapter 1, is amended 17
to add an additional section to read as follows: 18
13-2-108. Sexually explicit material in children's library areas 19
prohibited —— Cause of action —— Definitions. 20
(a) A taxpayer-funded library in this state shall take reasonable 21
steps to ensure that sexually explicit material is not located on open 22
shelving within children’s library areas. 23
(b) Sex education materials shall not be placed on open shelving 24
within a children’s library section but may be made accessible or checked out 25
by a child twelve (12) years of age or under upon parent or guardian request. 26
(c)(1) A parent or guardian whose child has been exposed to sexually 27
explicit material in a children’s section of a library has a private cause of 28
action for damages and declaratory and injunctive relief against a taxpayer -29
funded library that fails to take reasonable steps to place only age -30
appropriate materials in a children’s library section. 31
(2) A civil action brought under subdivision (c)(1) of this 32
section shall be commenced within two (2) years of the date of the cause of 33
action. 34
(3) An individual who prevails in a civil action under 35
subdivision (c)(1) of this section may recover from the taxpayer -funded 36 HB1977
4 04/02/2025 3:37:21 PM SSS313
library that failed to take reasonable steps to avoid placing sexually 1
explicit material on open shelving within a children’s library section: 2
(A) Reasonable attorney fees; and 3
(B) Costs. 4
(d) As used in this section: 5
(1) “Age-appropriate material” means materials primarily for 6
children twelve (12) years of age and under that are free of sexually 7
explicit material; 8
(2) “Children’s library section” means sections of a library 9
that are organized primarily for children twelve (12) years of age and under; 10
(3) “Open shelving” means library shelving and library displays 11
where materials can be freely accessed by children without assistance; 12
(4) “Sex education materials” means materials that are designed 13
to educate students about the facts of sexual reproduction; 14
(5)(A) “Sexually explicit material” means material that depicts 15
or describes with a high level of graphic detail or descriptive language: 16
(i) The penetration of the anus or mouth of a person 17
by the penis of another person; 18
(ii) The penetration of the labia majora or anus of 19
a person by any body member or foreign instrument manipulated by another 20
person; or 21
(iii) Sexually explicit conduct as defined in § 5 -22
27-302. 23
(B) "Sexually explicit material" does not include: 24
(i) Sex education material; or 25
(ii) Material that mentions an occurrence of sexual 26
intercourse, sexual acts, or sexual attraction without a high level of 27
graphic detail or descriptive language; and 28
(6) “Taxpayer-funded library” means a library that receives 29
funds from any type of state or local taxes, including without limitation a: 30
(A) County library; or 31
(B) Municipal library. 32
33
34
35
36