Researcher: LRH Page 1 3/19/25
OLR Bill Analysis
sSB 1234
AN ACT PROHIBITING LIBRARIES FROM AGREEING TO CERTAIN
TERMS IN ELECTRONIC BOOK AND DIGITAL AUDIOBOOK
LICENSE AGREEMENTS OR CONTRACTS.
SUMMARY
This bill generally prohibits publicly funded libraries from entering
into agreements with publishers of electronic literary materials (i.e.
electronic books (eBooks) and digital audiobooks) that prevent, limit, or
restrict the library from performing certain customary operational or
lending functions specified in the bill. It applies to contracts and
licensing agreements (collectively referred to as “agreements” below)
entered or renewed on and after July 1, 2026.
The bill applies to (1) the Connecticut State Library and (2) any public
library, public elementary or secondary school library, academic or
research library, or public archive if it is partially or fully funded (e.g.,
through grants, loans, insurance, or matching expenditures) by the state
or one of its political subdivisions (e.g., municipalities). The bill’s
prohibition applies for the duration of the fiscal year in which the library
or archive receives the funding and the next fiscal year after that.
Under the bill, “publishers” are (1) businesses that manufacture,
promulgate, license, or sell books, journals, magazines, newspapers, or
other literary productions (including digital formats and digital
audiobooks) or (2) aggregators in the business of licensing access to
material collections, including works from multiple publishers, and
entering into contracts with libraries to sell or license these materials.
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2026, and applicable to contracts or license
agreements entered into or renewed on or after that date.
2025SB-01234-R000132-BA.DOCX
Researcher: LRH Page 2 3/19/25
AGREEMENT TERMS
Prohibited Terms
The bill generally prohibits the covered libraries from entering or
renewing agreements with publishers that prevent, limit, or restrict
their ability to perform customary operational or lending functions.
More specifically, the bill prohibits the libraries from entering
agreements that:
1. prohibit the library from lending any electronic literary material,
including through an interlibrary loan;
2. restrict the number of times the library may loan electronic
literary material over the course of the agreement if it also
restricts the library’s loan period for the material;
3. limit the number of licenses the library can buy on the day the
material is made available for public purchase;
4. prohibit the library from making nonpublic preservation copies;
5. restrict the library from disclosing an agreement’s terms to
another Connecticut library;
6. restrict the agreement’s duration unless the library also has the
option of an agreement on commercially reasonable terms,
considering the library’s mission, that allows (a) a pay-per-use
model or (b) perpetual public use of the electronic literary
material;
7. require the library to violate the law that protects its patrons’
confidential information;
8. are non-severable from any of its provisions that a judicial forum
finds prohibited by the bill; or
9. allow any of the bill’s prohibited provisions to be enforced
outside of a judicial forum (e.g., through arbitration).
2025SB-01234-R000132-BA.DOCX
Researcher: LRH Page 3 3/19/25
Permissible Terms
The bill also specifies that the libraries’ agreements with publishers
may do the following:
1. limit the number of borrowers with simultaneous access to any
electronic literary material or
2. require the library to reasonably use technological protection
measures that prevent a borrower from (a) maintaining access to
material beyond the agreement’s allowable loan period or (b)
sharing access to the material with other borrowers.
BACKGROUND
Related Bill
HB 6958, favorably reported by the Planning and Development
Committee, is identical to this bill.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Government Administration and Elections Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 14 Nay 5 (02/28/2025)