Book ban prohibition bill dies in house as session comes to a close

As the New Mexico Legislative Session ended Feb. 15, the bill presented by Representative Kathleen Cates that would have prohibited book banning died in the State House of Representatives.

House Bill 123 was prefiled by Cates at the start of the session. It had passed two committees and was on the house calendar but it never went to a vote.

“I am very disappointed. We worked very hard in getting this bill on the Governor’s Call List and educating our Legislators regarding the bill. In a 30 day session, bills without appropriations cannot progress without being on the Governor’s Call List. Then once you get it through 2 Committees , the Speaker must do the math on how many bills can go through in how many days are left in the session,” Cates explained.

She added that HB 123 would have helped libraries.

“This bill will clearly state that value and protect librarians who are being targeted for following their own process,” she said.

Every public library has a process to review books to place on shelves, or remove from shelves. In other states bills similar to this one have already passed into law. California

that focused on school libraries.

last year as well.

Most of these bills came after books with LGBTQIA themes were challenged or sometimes banned in public and school libraries. Rio Rancho was not excluded from these challenges as a local Mass Resistance group appeared at both city council meetings and library board meetings to publicly speak about their concerns.

Mike Jackovich, local Mass Resistance leader, says he is happy the bill didn’t pass and objects to the term “banning books” saying it is not the right term to use.

“The term ‘banning books’ is not in Mass Resistance New Mexico’s vocabulary. Our opponents use it as a ‘battle cry’ to provoke their followers. An example of provocation is spreading misinformation that MRNM will be attending Rio Rancho Library Board Meetings which in fact we had no intention to attend,” he said.

Jackovich sustained what he and other Mass Resistance members have said in past meetings, that the materials they have challenged are “pornographic.”

“We are opposed to any library using taxpayer funding to purchase pornographic materials that encourage children under 18 to consider gender change or a gay way of life until they are adults,” he added.

Jackovich said he and other MRNM members contacted legislators during the session in opposition of the bill. When the bill was being presented to the committees, however, there were no members present to protest it and several people showed up to support it. Nonetheless, he maintained that the bill is not warranted.

“Local libraries should make their own decisions as to what they place or do not place in their collections. The state would have played a “Big Brother” role if HB123 had passed. We find it curious that the bill’s primary sponsor did not seek input from many library directors in her district before announcing the bill,” Jackovich added.

However, in both of the house committee meetings library directors from around the state showed support of Cates’ proposed bill.

Contrary to Jackovich’s comments, Cates says political, religious, and special interest groups should not get to determine what is available in the public library.

“Parents will decide what is best for their children regarding the materials they can check out at the public library,” she continued.

While Jackovich says the bill plays a “Big Brother” role, Cates states her bill follows United States law and belief.

“Libraries have existed for thousands of years but our public libraries were started in the United States under the leadership of Benjamin Franklin. He believed the public libraries should truly reflect the democracy of our country,” she said.

She doubled down saying it doesn’t matter who a person’s father is, how much money they make, what their educational, political or religious background is.

“…you are allowed to have free access to books or loanable materials from the library,” Cates stressed.

But Cates says she will not give up on the bill now, even though it never made it to a vote this time.

“When elected in November I will have several bills, this being one of them, that will be ready to prefile before the 2025 session,” she said.

Jackovich says MRNM will challenge more books this year.

“MRNM would not be deterred from confronting any library that has pornographic or gender change materials in its collection that are accessible to children. If a library chose to ignore HB123, we understand that the state funding that would have been withheld is minuscule compared to the funding provided by local governments,” he said.

The bill lies dormant for now. If Cates is reelected she plans on presenting it again.