BOISE, Idaho — On what was slated to be the second-to-last day of the legislative session, Idaho House Republicans killed the budget for the Idaho Commission for Libraries after debate over controversial materials in libraries.
The bill died Thursday in a 33-36 vote. The budget before the House included a cut of about $300,000 that had been used for a statewide e-book collection for K-12 students.
Assistant Minority Leader Lauren Necochea, a Democrat, in a statement called the vote “senseless retribution” against librarians who spoke out against a previous bill that would have removed legal protections for schools, colleges, universities and libraries to disseminate “harmful” materials to minors. That bill passed the House but didn’t get a hearing in the Senate.
