Say No to Book Banning

Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft has proposed a new censorship rule (15 CSR 30-200.015). If passed, he can take away funding from our local library as well as all Missouri public libraries, if they don’t follow the very strict book ban regulations. This proposal will also allow ANYONE to challenge access to books and what can be read.

Folks…library professionals trust parents to make decisions about what their children can read, and they develop collections and resources that make knowledge and ideas widely available. Ashcroft’s efforts to censor entire categories of books reflecting certain voices and views, on the pain of stripping their funding, shows that this supposed moral panic isn’t about kids: it’s about politics. He and other organizations with a political agenda are spreading lists of books they don’t like. It goes without saying that our rural community will be disproportionately affected by the loss of state funds.

Comments may be submitted to the Secretary of State’s office via email at comments@sos.mo.gov or by traditional mail to:

Office of the Missouri Secretary of State
P.O. Box 1767
Jefferson City, MO 65102

Your email must include “15 CSR 30-200.015” in the subject line. The deadline for public comment is December 15th.