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SB-1435 Books and other school materials: obscene matter.(2023-2024)

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Date Published: 04/08/2024 09:00 PM
SB1435:v97#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Senate  April 08, 2024
Amended  IN  Senate  March 18, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 1435

Introduced by Senator Ochoa Bogh

February 16, 2024

An act to add Section 18112 to the Education Code, relating to school materials.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 1435, as amended, Ochoa Bogh. Books and other school materials: obscene matter.
Existing law requires the State Board of Education to adopt standards, rules, and regulations for school library services. Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to exclude from schools and school libraries all books, publications, or papers of a sectarian, partisan, or denominational character.
This bill would require the governing board of a school district to exclude from schools and school libraries serving pupils in preschool, transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, all books, publications, or papers that contain obscene harmful matter, as defined. The bill would require the harmful matter to be removed on or before July 31, 2025. To the extent these provisions would add new duties on school districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize a parent, guardian, or resident of a school district to commence a civil action to obtain appropriate injunctive and declaratory relief for violations of these provisions after the governing board of the school district’s refusal to remove any harmful matter requested of it.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Obscene material is not protected under the First Amendment, as established by the United States Supreme Court in Miller v. California (1973) 413 U.S. 15.
(b) In Section 1464 of Title 18 of the United States Code, Congress prohibited broadcasting obscene material.
(c) In applying that standard, the Federal Communications Commission states that federal law prohibits obscene, indecent, and profane content from being broadcast on the radio or television, and in deciding what is obscene, indecent, or profane, each type of content has a distinct definition:
(1) For content to be obscene, it must meet a three-pronged test established by the United States Supreme Court: it must appeal to an average person’s prurient interest; depict or describe sexual conduct in a patently offensive way; and, taken as a whole, lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
(2) Indecent content portrays sexual or excretory organs or activities in a way that is patently offensive but does not meet the three-prong test for obscenity.
(3) Profane content includes grossly offensive language that is considered a public nuisance.

(d)The Penal Code further recognizes obscenity as “obscene matter,” defining it as matter, taken as a whole, that to the average person, applying contemporary statewide standards, appeals to the prurient interest, that, taken as a whole, depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way, and that, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

(d) The Penal Code further recognizes material that is harmful to children as “harmful matter,” defining it as matter, taken as a whole, which to the average person, applying contemporary statewide standards, appeals to the prurient interest, and is matter which, taken as a whole, depicts or describes in a patently offensive way sexual conduct and which, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.
(e) If material is not acceptable to be broadcast to adults on network television or radio stations, which are both regulated as public utilities by the federal government, then the material is not suitable for display, use, or storage in public school libraries for children.

SEC. 2.

 Section 18112 is added to the Education Code, to read:

18112.
 (a) (1) The governing board of a school district shall exclude from schools and school libraries serving pupils in preschool, transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, all books, publications, or papers that contain obscene harmful matter, as defined in Section 311 313 of the Penal Code.
(2) Notwithstanding Section 313 of the Penal Code, the governing board of a school district shall apply contemporary local standards for deciding what is harmful matter for purposes of this section.
(b) Harmful matter described in subdivision (a) shall be removed on or before July 31, 2025.
(c) (1) Nothing in this section affects the defenses available pursuant to Section 313.3 of the Penal Code as it applies to criminal punishments set forth in Section 313.4 of the Penal Code.
(2) Nothing in this section prohibits a parent, guardian, or resident of a school district from requesting that the governing board of the school district remove any material containing harmful matter from schools and school libraries.
(d) A parent, guardian, or resident of a school district may commence a civil action to obtain appropriate injunctive and declaratory relief for violations of this section after the governing board of the school district’s refusal to remove any harmful matter requested of it.

SEC. 3.

 If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.