807 Right now developing across Florida Governor DeSantis is set
to sign a bill aimed at cracking down on what
he says are frivolous book band challenges.
He believes some people are just trolling the system.
Mariah, it's in The Newsroom with a closer look at
the bill.
Mariah, what would it do?
Well, first, let's take a look back at when the
governor actually signed this original bill into law.
That's House Bill 1467. That was back in 2022,
and there were no limits on who could challenge books
in Florida schools or how many challenges they could make.
Well, those rules, those parameters,
they could be changing just in time for the new
fall semester.
The original bill did require public school libraries to review
any books or instructional material to make sure that they
did not include any pornographic material or band lessons on
racism. Challenges to that same material could also be submitted.
But apparently the governor thinks these challenges have gone too
far now.
During a news conference on Monday,
the governor seemed to support rolling back Florida laws on
school book bans.
During his address, he specifically pointed to adults who are
challenging books who don't have students enrolled in the district.
House Bill 1285, that's what we're talking about,
would limit those individuals to just one challenge per month.
Limiting what he calls these frivolous challenges made by so-called
activists.
You may not have kids in school,
but if you're a resident and a taxpayer,
you have a right to be concerned about what's going
on in the schools.
I think that's an important part of the community.
So, so to say that they can't be involved at
all was probably too far.
But clearly this has been abused.
Clearly people are trying to pursue an agenda.
Now, the new measure would also include some penalties for
those individuals who have unsuccessfully challenged 5 books in the
same calendar year.
The bill could be signed as early as today,
and if that happens, the new rules would go live
as soon as July.
Now, the governor went on to say that cases of
book challenges should be very rare,
but the numbers show they are anything but.
Pet America reports that more than 1400 books have now
been banned across 33 districts here in Florida.
Russell, thank you.