New Illinois law will penalize libraries that ban books

books on display for banned book week
(Image credit: Chicago Tribune / Contributor / Getty Images)

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) signed a bill into law that would penalize public schools and libraries for banning books, a move that he said makes the state the first in the nation to pass such a law, CNN reported.

"Book bans are about censorship, marginalizing people, marginalizing ideas and facts. Regimes ban books, not democracies," Pritzker said before signing the bill in a Chicago library.

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Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, who led the push for the legislation, applauded the librarians who advocated for the bill on Monday, per CNN. "The concept of banning books contradicts the very essence of what our country stands for. It also defies what education is all about: teaching our children to think for themselves," Giannoulias said.

The measure comes as other states across the country pass laws empowering a record number of book bans. In March, the ALA said that the 1,269 petitions to censor library books in 2022 marked the highest number of attempted book bans in the association's 20-year history. Most of the affected books were primarily written by or about people of color or the LGBTQ+ community.

While Illinois may be the first state to pass a law prohibiting book bans, it may not be the only one for long. A group of Democratic senators from New Jersey proposed a similar bill to defund any public library or school that bans or restricts books. President Biden also recently announced plans to appoint a federal coordinator to address the rise in book bans.

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Theara Coleman, The Week US

Theara Coleman has worked as a staff writer at The Week since September 2022. She frequently writes about technology, education, literature and general news. She was previously a contributing writer and assistant editor at Honeysuckle Magazine, where she covered racial politics and cannabis industry news.