Local reactions to obscenity bill mostly negative

The Montana House of Representatives is discussing a bill that would have criminalized the display of obscene material in museums as well as public schools and libraries when minors are present, a bill that has raised concerns from the Havre-Hill County library director and local legislators.

HB 234 was recently updated to target only schools, but the initial version of the bill also included museums and libraries, prompting reactions from local officials.

Montana law prohibits the public display or dissemination of obscene materials to minors but teachers and librarians are exempt from that rule as long as they comply with the policy of their local jurisdiction and their own organization's rules.

House Bill 234 would have eliminated that exemption and added criminal penalties to any teacher, museum employee or library employee who made materials deemed obscene available to minors.

The bill has since been revised to only penalize teachers.

Supporters claim the law is necessary to keep children safe from inappropriate or pornographic material and its sponsor Rep. Bob Phalen, R-Lindsay said it will reduce the amount of obscene material available for young people in Montana.

The bill's opponents, however, have raised concerns about the vague way in which the word "obscene" is defined in Montana law, and that, depending on the interpretation, it could be used to censor educational material with legitimate literary, sociological or scientific value.

Havre Public Schools Interim Superintendent Brad Moore said they've been keeping track of a lot of legislation and he hasn't had a chance to read the language of HB234 so he doesn't have an opinion at the moment, but as the session goes on they will make their opinion on the bill known.

Havre-Hill County Library Director Rachel Rawn said the way the bill was written, she's not sure it would have done anything but create an atmosphere of intimidation for institutions like hers.

Rawn said based on her understanding of "obscene" within Montana law, such materials would need to be deemed as having no literary or scientific value and her library, as well as the other institutions covered by the exemptions, doesn't have anything that would reasonably fall under that definition.

"I'm not sure if it would do anything but muddy the waters," she said.

She said the bill would have made people like her nervous to order new books, and for users of the library to make requests for new books, which is largely what they use to expand their catalog.

"I wouldn't want people to be afraid of asking for a book," she said.

Rawn said the taxpayers who fund the library come from all kinds of political backgrounds and social walks of life, and the library tries to reflect that when developing its catalog, and she fears that mission was threatened by this bill.

She also had misgivings about taking away parents' agency to let their children read material that comes from those backgrounds and walks of life if they want to.

In addition to all that she was concerned that the bill would invite litigation the state would need to pay to fight, to defend a bill that wouldn't even do anything.

Many of these concerns were echoed by local legislators, including Republicans who had concerns about how the law could be interpreted.

"It seems there are many interpretations of what is in this category," said Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester. "I feel issues such as this should be left to the locals to decide what is best, not the state."

Rep. Casey Knudsen, R-Malta, said some of the examples of material proponents used as examples are potentially inappropriate, but a few seemingly isolated cases of potential impropriety aren't necessarily cause to change state law.

"I'm still undecided," he said. "But generally I'm not a fan of censorship or criminalizing the employees of institutions like libraries or museums."

However, the bill was not without defenders. Sen. Mike Lang, R-Malta, said he was behind the bill, calling it "a moral responsibility."

"In principle, I support the bill," Lang said. " ... Public unions will say HB234 will create challenges, but if the boards of the entities listed in the bill have solid board policies beforehand, things will turn out right."

Rep. Paul, Tuss, D-Havre, Mike Fox, D-Hays, Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Rocky Boy, and Josh Kassmier, R-Fort Benton, hadn't responded to requests for comment by print deadline this morning.