BOISE, Idaho — Several of the world’s largest publishing companies such as Penguin House Publishing, along with the Donnelly Public Library and several authors, are suing the State of Idaho over House Bill 710, which filters the books and content that minors can access in public libraries.
The bill went into effect in July 2024 and has already had dramatic impacts on the Donnelly Public Library which had to convert to an "adult-only" space to ensure they were complying with the law.
RELATED: How House Bill 710 affects Donnelly Public Library
"Our staff members are spread thin enough already and do not have the bandwidth to review the entire collection and weed out the materials that may fall within H.B. 710," said Sherry Scheline with the Donnelly Public Library District.
The complaint, which was filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court, says that Idaho's law violates federally protected free speech rights by censoring access to books in public libraries.
"Book bans like H.B. 710 have effects that are dramatic, immediate, real and they're very harmful," said Micheal Grygiel, an adjunct faculty member at Cornell Law. "Your books are being taken off of the shelves across libraries because librarians don't really know what to do with the vague and over-broad provisions of the law."
Idaho News 6 will continue to follow this story and bring you updates as more information becomes available.
