A.B. 445
- *AB445*
ASSEMBLY BILL NO. 445–ASSEMBLYMEMBER MONROE-MORENO
MARCH 17, 2025
____________
Referred to Committee on Education
SUMMARY—Revises provisions relating to libraries.
(BDR 34-1071)
FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: May have Fiscal Impact.
Effect on the State: Yes.
CONTAINS UNFUNDED MANDATE (§§ 1, 2)
(NOT REQUESTED BY AFFECTED LOCAL GOVERNMENT)
~
EXPLANATION – Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted.
AN ACT relating to libraries; requiring the Department of
Education and the State Library, Archives and Public
Records Administrator to develop a model policy on the
access of certain persons to library materials; providing
required components of such a policy; requiring the board
of trustees of each school district, the governing body of
each charter school and the governing body of each public
library to adopt the model policy or develop a policy that
is not less protective of the rights of certain persons to
access library materials and includes certain provisions;
providing that library staff are immune from criminal or
civil liability for certain acts; and providing other matters
properly relating thereto.
Legislative Counsel’s Digest:
Existing law requires the board of trustees of a school district to purchase all 1
new library books and supplies to be used by pupils of the school district. (NRS 2
393.170) Existing law also provides for the creation of publicly supported libraries 3
and information centers to meet the informational needs of all citizens. (NRS 4
379.002) Sections 1 and 2 of this bill require the Department of Education and the 5
State Library, Archives and Public Records Administrator to develop a model 6
policy on the access of persons to library materials of a school library or public 7
library, respectively, that: (1) includes model policies for the selection of materials 8
for libraries; (2) prohibits the censorship of library materials; (3) ensures certain 9
persons are permitted to reserve, check out and access library materials; (4) 10
establishes criteria for the removal of library materials from a library; and (5) 11
– 2 –
- *AB445*
includes a model form for certain interested persons to request the removal of 12
specific library materials. Sections 1 and 2 require the board of trustees of each 13
school district, the governing body of each charter school and the governing body 14
of a public library to: (1) adopt the model policy; or (2) develop and adopt a policy 15
that is not less protective of the rights of certain persons to access library materials 16
than the model policy and that includes a process to request and review requests for 17
the removal of library materials that is substantially similar to the model policy. 18
Sections 1 and 2 additionally: (1) require the model policy to include the process 19
by which a form to request removal is reviewed by a committee appointed by the 20
superintendent of schools, the governing body of a charter school or the governing 21
body of a public library, as applicable; (2) sets forth the members of the committee; 22
and (3) requires the board of trustees of a school district, the governing body of a 23
charter school or the governing body of a public library, as applicable, to review 24
recommendations made by the committee and determine whether to remove or limit 25
access to the library materials. Furthermore, sections 1 and 2 set forth: (1) the 26
content and characteristics of the subject, author or perceived or intended audience 27
of the library materials that cannot be used to justify removal of or limiting access 28
to library materials; and (2) prohibitions on certain subsequent requests for the 29
removal of library materials. Section 1 requires the Department to adopt 30
regulations that set forth the process for a person to appeal, to the Superintendent of 31
Public Instruction, a determination made by the board of trustees of a school district 32
or the governing body of a charter school concerning the removal of library 33
materials. 34
Sections 1 and 2 provide that the staff members of a school library or public 35
library are immune from criminal or civil liability for certain good faith acts related 36
to their duties. 37
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN
SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Chapter 388 of NRS is hereby amended by adding 1
thereto a new section to read as follows: 2
1. The Department shall develop a model policy on the access 3
of pupils to library materials of a school library that: 4
(a) Includes model policies for the selection of materials for 5
school libraries which are designed to ensure that each school 6
library includes library materials that present a diverse range of 7
developmentally relevant information, stories, perspectives and 8
ideas, including, without limitation, diverse and inclusive 9
materials; 10
(b) Prohibits the censorship of library materials; 11
(c) Ensures pupils are permitted to reserve, check out and 12
access any library materials which are appropriate for the age 13
and grade level of the pupil, including, without limitation, diverse 14
and inclusive material; 15
(d) Establishes criteria for the removal of library materials 16
from the school library pursuant to a written policy for the 17
preservation and curation of library materials or upon request 18
from an employee of the school district or charter school, a pupil 19
– 3 –
- *AB445*
enrolled in the school district or charter school or the parent or 1
legal guardian of such a pupil; and 2
(e) Includes a model form for an employee of the school 3
district or charter school, a pupil enrolled in the school district or 4
charter school or the parent or legal guardian of such a pupil to 5
submit to the principal of the school, or his or her designee, to 6
request the removal of library materials from the school library 7
and specify the reasons why the library materials should be 8
removed. 9
2. A policy developed pursuant to this section must, without 10
limitation: 11
(a) Require the principal of the school, or his or her designee, 12
to submit the request for the removal of library materials to the 13
superintendent of schools of the school district or the governing 14
body of the charter school, as applicable; 15
(b) Require the superintendent of schools or the governing 16
body of the charter school, as applicable, after receiving the 17
request submitted pursuant to paragraph (a), to appoint a 18
committee to review the request to remove library materials that 19
consists of: 20
(1) The superintendent of schools, his or her designee or a 21
member of the governing body of the charter school, as 22
applicable; 23
(2) The principal of the school in which the library 24
materials requested for removal are located, or his or her 25
designee; 26
(3) One school library staff member of the school in which 27
the library materials requested for removal are located; 28
(4) If the request for the removal of library materials is for 29
library materials located at a public school within a school district, 30
including, without limitation, a charter school that is sponsored by 31
a school district, one representative selected by the board of 32
trustees of the school district who must not be the person who 33
submitted the request for removal of the library materials; 34
(5) One teacher who teaches pupils enrolled in a grade for 35
which the library materials are appropriate who must not be the 36
person who submitted the request for removal of the library 37
materials; 38
(6) One parent or legal guardian of a pupil enrolled in the 39
school district or the charter school, as applicable, who must not 40
be the person who submitted the request for removal of the library 41
materials or the spouse of such a person; 42
(7) If the request for removal of the library materials was 43
submitted by a pupil enrolled in grade 9, 10, 11 or 12, at the 44
discretion of the superintendent of schools or the governing body 45
– 4 –
- *AB445*
of the charter school, as applicable, one pupil enrolled in grade 9, 1
10, 11 or 12 within the school district or the charter school, as 2
applicable, who must not be the person who submitted the request 3
for removal of library materials; and 4
(8) Any additional members the superintendent of schools 5
or governing body of the charter school deems necessary; 6
(c) Require the committee appointed pursuant to paragraph (b) 7
to evaluate the request for the removal of library materials and the 8
library materials identified in the request and, not later than 60 9
days after receiving the request: 10
(1) Prepare a written report that includes a 11
recommendation of whether to remove the library materials or 12
limit access to the library materials; and 13
(2) Submit the report prepared pursuant to this paragraph 14
to the board of trustees of the school district or the governing body 15
of the charter school, as applicable; 16
(d) Require the committee appointed pursuant to paragraph 17
(b) to submit a copy of the report prepared pursuant to paragraph 18
(c) to the principal of the school in which the library materials 19
requested for removal are located and to the person who submitted 20
the request; 21
(e) Require the board of trustees of the school district or 22
governing body of the charter school, as applicable, to: 23
(1) Review the report submitted pursuant to paragraph (c); 24
(2) Determine whether the library materials requested for 25
removal will be removed or access to the library materials will be 26
limited; 27
(3) Provide a written statement describing the reasons the 28
determination was made; 29
(4) Post the written statement in an easily accessible 30
location on the Internet website maintained by the school district 31
or charter school; and 32
(5) If the board of trustees or governing body, as 33
applicable, determines that the library materials requested for 34
removal will be removed pursuant to subparagraph (2), require a 35
school library staff member to remove the library materials from 36
circulation; 37
(f) Allow the board of trustees of a school district or governing 38
body of a charter school to consolidate more than one request for 39
the removal of library materials into a single determination if the 40
requests concern the same library materials; 41
(g) Require that any library materials requested for removal 42
remain in circulation, available to check out and in the 43
appropriate location within the school library until a 44
determination is made pursuant to paragraph (e); 45
– 5 –
- *AB445*
(h) Prohibit a subsequent request for the removal of library 1
materials from being submitted less than 1 year after a 2
determination has been made pursuant to paragraph (e) 3
concerning the same library materials; and 4
(i) Prohibit a determination made pursuant to paragraph (e) 5
from being based upon disagreement with a viewpoint, idea or 6
concept expressed in the library materials or based upon the sex, 7
race, national origin, religion, gender identity or expression, 8
sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, political 9
affiliation or any other distinguishing characteristic or 10
background of: 11
(1) The subject of the library materials; 12
(2) The author of the library materials; or 13
(3) The perceived or intended audience for the library 14
materials, except that the age of the intended audience may be 15
considered in determining if the materials are developmentally 16
appropriate. 17
3. The board of trustees of each school district and the 18
governing body of each charter school shall adopt: 19
(a) The model policy developed by the Department pursuant to 20
subsection 1; or 21
(b) A policy on the access of pupils to library materials of a 22
school library that: 23
(1) Is not less protective of the rights of pupils to access 24
library materials than the model policy developed by the 25
Department pursuant to subsection 1; and 26
(2) Includes the adoption of a form described in paragraph 27
(e) of subsection 1 and a process for the review of requests for the 28
removal of library materials that is substantially similar to the 29
process described in subsection 2. 30
4. The Department shall adopt regulations that set forth the 31
process for a person to appeal a determination made pursuant to 32
paragraph (e) of subsection 2 to the Superintendent of Public 33
Instruction. 34
5. A school library staff member is immune from criminal or 35
civil liability for good faith acts: 36
(a) Relating to providing access to or assisting pupils in 37
accessing library materials of a school library; or 38
(b) Performed in compliance with a policy adopted pursuant to 39
subsection 3. 40
6. Nothing in this section shall be construed as creating a 41
separate legal cause of action regarding any determination issued 42
pursuant to a policy adopted pursuant to subsection 3. 43
7. As used in this section: 44
(a) “Censorship”: 45
– 6 –
- *AB445*
(1) Means to block, suppress or remove library material 1
based on disagreement with a viewpoint, idea or concept, or solely 2
because an individual finds certain content offensive. 3
(2) Does not include limiting or restricting access to any 4
library material deemed developmentally inappropriate for certain 5
pupils. 6
(b) “Diverse and inclusive material”: 7
(1) Means material: 8
(I) That reflects the history, contributions or experiences 9
of Native Americans and Native American tribes, persons of 10
marginalized sexual orientation or gender identity, persons with 11
disabilities, persons from various socioeconomic statuses, 12
immigrants or refugees, persons from various religious 13
backgrounds or persons from various racial and ethnic 14
backgrounds, including, without limitation, persons who are 15
African-American, Basque, Hispanic or Asian or Pacific Islander; 16
or 17
(II) That contains the author’s points of view 18
concerning contemporary problems and issues, whether 19
international, national or local. 20
(2) Does not include material that is inappropriate for all of 21
the grades or age groups served by a school library. 22
(c) “Library materials” includes, without limitation, books, 23
periodicals, pamphlets, journals, newspapers, audio materials, 24
audiovisual materials, instructional materials, maps, databases, 25
government documents, records and photographs. 26
(d) “School library staff member” means a school library 27
media specialist, school librarian, any licensed or unlicensed 28
employee of a school assigned to duties in a school library or any 29
person carrying out or assisting with the functions of a school 30
library media specialist or school librarian. 31
Sec. 2. Chapter 379 of NRS is hereby amended by adding 32
thereto a new section to read as follows: 33
1. The State Library, Archives and Public Records 34
Administrator shall develop a model policy on the access of 35
patrons to library materials of a public library that: 36
(a) Includes model policies for the selection of materials for 37
public libraries that are designed to ensure that each public library 38
includes library materials that present a diverse range of 39
information, stories, perspectives and ideas, including, without 40
limitation, diverse and inclusive materials; 41
(b) Prohibits the censorship of library materials; 42
(c) Ensures residents of the municipality served by the library 43
are permitted to reserve, check out and access any library 44
– 7 –
- *AB445*
materials, including, without limitation, diverse and inclusive 1
material; 2
(d) Establishes criteria for the removal of library materials 3
from the public library pursuant to a written policy for the 4
preservation and curation of library materials or upon request 5
from a resident of the municipality which is served by the public 6
library; and 7
(e) Includes a model form for a resident of the municipality 8
which is served by the public library to submit to the governing 9
body of the public library to request the removal of library 10
materials from the public library and specify the reasons why the 11
library materials should be removed. 12
2. A policy developed pursuant to this section must, without 13
limitation: 14
(a) Require the governing body of a public library, after 15
receiving a request for the removal of library materials from the 16
public library, to appoint a committee to review the request to 17
remove library materials that consists of: 18
(1) One member of the governing body of the public 19
library; 20
(2) One librarian employed by the public library; 21
(3) One staff member employed by the public library who is 22
not a librarian and who is familiar with the library materials 23
requested for removal; 24
(4) One resident of the municipality which is served by the 25
public library who must not be the person who submitted the 26
request for removal of library materials; and 27
(5) Any additional members the governing body deems 28
necessary. 29
(b) Require the committee appointed pursuant to paragraph 30
(a) to evaluate the request for the removal of library materials and 31
the library materials identified in the request and, not later than 32
60 days after receiving the request: 33
(1) Prepare a written report that includes a 34
recommendation of whether to remove the library materials or 35
limit access to the library materials; and 36
(2) Submit the report prepared pursuant to this paragraph 37
to the governing body of the public library; 38
(c) Require the committee appointed pursuant to paragraph (a) 39
to submit a copy of the report prepared pursuant to paragraph (b) 40
to the person who submitted the request; 41
(d) Require the governing body of the public library to: 42
(1) Review the report submitted pursuant to paragraph (b); 43
– 8 –
- *AB445*
(2) Determine whether the library materials requested for 1
removal will be removed or access to the library materials will be 2
limited; 3
(3) Provide a written statement describing the reasons the 4
determination was made; 5
(4) Post the written statement in an easily accessible 6
location on the Internet website maintained by the public library; 7
and 8
(5) If the governing body determines that the library 9
materials requested for removal will be removed pursuant to 10
subparagraph (2), require the librarians of the public library to 11
remove the library materials from circulation; 12
(e) Allow the governing body of the public library to 13
consolidate more than one request for the removal of library 14
materials into a single determination if the requests concern the 15
same library materials; 16
(f) Require that any library materials requested for removal 17
remain in circulation, available to check out and in the 18
appropriate location within the public library until a 19
determination is made pursuant to paragraph (d); 20
(g) Prohibit a subsequent request for the removal of library 21
materials from being submitted less than 5 years after a 22
determination has been made pursuant to paragraph (d) 23
concerning the same library materials; and 24
(h) Prohibit a determination made pursuant to paragraph (d) 25
from being based upon disagreement with a viewpoint, idea or 26
concept expressed in the library materials or based upon the sex, 27
race, national origin, religion, gender identity or expression, 28
sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, political 29
affiliation or any other distinguishing characteristic or 30
background of: 31
(1) The subject of the library materials; 32
(2) The author of the library materials; or 33
(3) The perceived or intended audience for the library 34
materials. 35
3. The governing body of the public library shall adopt: 36
(a) The model policy developed by the State Library, Archives 37
and Public Records Administrator pursuant to subsection 1; or 38
(b) A policy on the access of library patrons to library 39
materials of a public library that: 40
(1) Is not less protective of the rights of library patrons to 41
access library materials than the model policy developed by the 42
State Library, Archives and Public Records Administrator 43
pursuant to subsection 1; and 44
– 9 –
- *AB445*
(2) Includes the adoption of a form described in paragraph 1
(d) of subsection 1 and a process for the review of requests for the 2
removal of library materials that is substantially similar to the 3
process described in subsection 2. 4
4. Any staff member of a public library, including, without 5
limitation, a librarian employed by a public library, is immune 6
from criminal or civil liability for good faith acts: 7
(a) Relating to providing access to or assisting library patrons 8
in accessing library materials of the public library; or 9
(b) Performed in compliance with a policy adopted pursuant to 10
subsection 3. 11
5. Nothing in this section shall be construed as creating a 12
separate legal cause of action regarding any determination issued 13
pursuant to a policy adopted pursuant to subsection 3. 14
6. As used in this section: 15
(a) “Censorship”: 16
(1) Means to block, suppress or remove library material 17
based on disagreement with a viewpoint, idea or concept, or solely 18
because an individual finds certain content offensive. 19
(2) Does not include limiting or restricting access to any 20
library material deemed developmentally inappropriate for certain 21
age groups. 22
(b) “Diverse and inclusive material” means material: 23
(1) That reflects the history, contributions or experiences 24
of: 25
(I) Native Americans and Native American tribes; 26
(II) Persons of marginalized sexual orientation or 27
gender identity; 28
(III) Persons with disabilities; 29
(IV) Persons from various racial and ethnic 30
backgrounds, including, without limitation, persons who are 31
African-American, Basque, Hispanic or Asian or Pacific Islander; 32
(V) Persons from various socioeconomic statuses; 33
(VI) Immigrants or refugees; and 34
(VII) Persons from various religious backgrounds; or 35
(2) That contains the author’s points of view concerning 36
contemporary problems and issues, whether international, 37
national or local. 38
(c) “Governing body” means the trustees of a consolidated, 39
county or district library, the governing authority of a city library, 40
the regional library board of a regional library or any other 41
executive body which governs the operations of a public library, 42
not including the governing board of a regional network of 43
libraries. 44
– 10 –
- *AB445*
(d) “Library materials” includes, without limitation, books, 1
periodicals, pamphlets, journals, newspapers, audio materials, 2
audiovisual materials, instructional materials, maps, databases, 3
government documents, records and photographs. 4
(e) “Municipality” means a county, district, city, town or other 5
political subdivision served by a public library. 6
Sec. 3. The provisions of NRS 354.599 do not apply to any 7
additional expenses of a local government that are related to the 8
provisions of this act. 9
Sec. 4. This act becomes effective on July 1, 2025. 10
H