Iowa Republican bills are a warning for public libraries

Our public libraries ooze democracy.

We espouse a lot of grand ideals about the need for an informed citizenry, the importance of education, the value of free speech and expression and the promise of equality. And public libraries in more than 500 Iowa towns, big and small, are fulfilling them all.

We could go down the list of all the ways libraries serve us, guide us and teach us. But you already know they’re far more than stacks of books.

We also know that if Republicans who control the Statehouse can’t seize control of an important Iowa institution, such as libraries, they’ll seek to restrict its mission, undermine its work and subject it to an old-fashioned political flogging.

Public schools, state universities, civil rights laws and local governments are among the many victims of reckless overreach.

So far in 2026, libraries have faced the prospect of joining that list.

Some bills targeting public libraries that made headlines survived the legislative funnel deadline this past week. Some didn’t make the cut.

But no proposal is truly dead until lawmakers end the session this spring. It’s common for “dead” bills to rise again, especially in a session’s final hours. And if, as expected, Republicans keep control of the Legislature, there’s always next year. Many bills that once seemed like long shots eventually become law.

One bill still alive is House Study Bill 720, which would disrupt funding to libraries that fail to enforce rules keeping kids from accessing any books or materials deemed inappropriate, mainly books describing a “sex act.” Public libraries could face the same book banning barrage as school libraries.

The bill would hand oversight of libraries over to city councils. They would have the final say in disputes over appropriate content. What could go wrong?

House Study Bill 636 also survived. It would prohibit public schools from forging partnerships with public libraries to provide materials for students. The library might try to slip some banned books into its book mobile. It’s all part of the plot to corrupt our children. You can read all about it in the fiction section.

Two other bills missed the funnel deadline but could make a comeback.

One is Senate File 2119, which would scrap exemptions to Iowa’s obscenity law for public libraries. Then, mad moms who oppose liberty can sue libraries over books they’ve decided are “obscene” in their minds, but not in state law.

Also dead, or just sleeping, is House File 2309, which would create a criminal statute prohibiting libraries from distributing “material harmful to minors.” It also permits parents to sue if they believe the law has been violated.

It looks like this tumult is all about sex, which seems to be an obsession under the Golden Dome of Wisdom, now redder than the scarlet A on Hester Prynne’s chest.

No law or right is safe if Republicans can envision a scenario in their narrow minds where porn falls into the hands of third-graders. Never mind how implausible it is or what damage will be done by avoiding it at all costs. Besides, it’s good politics.

But the funny thing is, this whole war on books got revved up in Iowa after LGBTQ people became increasingly accepted in our society. Old laws and attitudes were fading away. Christian Conservatives didn’t have an easy target.

And some LGBTQ people had the audacity to write books about their experiences living with fear and discrimination.

Same with Black authors tackling racism and police brutality. Books were written by all sorts of authors who tell heartrending stories about sexual assault, school shootings and other real-life traumas, tragedies and entrenched injustices.

It seems like the more literature deviated from the world view pushed by conservative Republicans, the more intense their efforts to ban books and lessons became. Teachers in Iowa can’t even mention the existence LGBTQ Americans to students, maybe all the way through high school if Republicans get their way.

One person’s “loss of innocence,” is another person’s broader understanding of the world as it exists far away from the nearest Pizza Ranch.

Meanwhile, the rest of us must decide what sort of state we want to live in.

Are we going to allow Moms for Liberty, now with no liberty, to call the shots? Do we want crusading Christian conservatives to intimidate librarians into avoiding any books that might offend their delicate sensibilities? Are we going to allow politicians to turn baseless fear into more political power? What are we going to do about it?

All we’ve got are those principles and ideals we’re supposed to revere and defend as Americans. They are not negotiable. We can make that clear in November.

Still not sure? Go to a public library and figure it out.

(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com