Senate Bill 2307, the library censorship bill, is an unnecessary and expensive bill! It will cost taxpayers at least $2 million if the bill is passed. The bill is headed next to the House Appropriations Committee to discuss this funding and give it a Do Pass or Do Not Pass recommendation based on its impact on the state budget as a whole.

What is the $2 million funding for?

The State Library in coordination with the Online Dakota Information Network (ODIN) received a quote from their vendor to implement an age verification system to their statewide database, which is used especially by schools and university students. This verification system is required by the proposed law to add an online filter for K-12 students. 

To be clear, this additional online filtering is unnecessary: libraries and schools already implement filters in compliance with the Children's Internet Protection Act.


Further, the $2 million doesn't include any of the fiscal impact on local libraries/taxpayers if the libraries need to remodel, if there's litigation for book challenges, or for the ND Attorney General to defend this unnecessary law that impacts our First Amendment rights.

More taxpayer costs of this bill:

1) SB 2307 could cause significant litigation for local governments, who may be required to increase staff hours for State’s Attorneys’ offices to handle the potential for additional caseloads. This is especially possible because there is no language in the bill limiting who can file complaints with the State’s Attorneys, which opens the door for out-of-state interest groups who could target North Dakota libraries with hundreds of reconsideration requests all at once. There could also be implications from this law for how City and County governments handle their liability insurance.

2) SB 2307 would put major strain on library budgets, as they would have to re-review collections to separate the materials that would be a liability to them under the language of this bill, as well as to potentially remodel libraries to make adult books “not easily accessible” to children, or to hire additional staff to enforce the separation of the collections. Most public libraries in North Dakota are not much larger than one room, so making things “not easily accessible” to children is difficult to interpret, and would cause libraries to have to remodel to accommodate this. School libraries would need to censor their collections accordingly, or build out new areas solely for high school materials.

3) There could be hidden costs to the average North Dakotan, as SB 2307 could create the need for additional taxation to cover the increased local government costs.

Libraries already have extensive collection development and reconsideration of materials policies. Children’s collections in North Dakota libraries do not contain “explicit sexual content” per the requirements of HB 1205. SB 2307 would therefore needlessly disrupt our local policies and practices and is unnecessary and a waste of taxpayer dollars. This bill removes local control, overextends our staff, and violates our First Amendment rights. 

The Legislature must consider ALL the consequences of SB 2307 before voting. Ask the House Appropriations Committee to consider all these costs to North Dakota taxpayers and give the bill a Do Not Pass recommendation.