Jason Rapert, a member of the Arkansas State Library Board, attempts to withhold funding for libraries that don’t separate “sexually explicit” books during a meeting on Friday, November 9, 2024. Member Lupe Peña de Martínez looks on. (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate)
The Arkansas State Library Board approved a motion to create “non-binding policies to protect children” in the state’s public libraries at a special meeting conducted via videoconference Thursday afternoon.
Lupe Peña de Martinez of Mabelvale, the board member who proposed the motion, said she spoke “at length” with Republican state Sen. Dan Sullivan of Jonesboro last week about his proposed law to abolish the State Library Board.
“‘Develop non-binding policies to protect children and I will pull Senate Bill 184’ were his exact words to me at least two or three times in our conversation,” Peña de Martinez said.
She noted that Sullivan did not use the term “sexually explicit,” a term conservatives have used to denote content inappropriate for minors.
The motion specified that the non-binding policies in question will honor “the constitutional and legislative principles of intellectual freedom, including First Amendment protections.” It also emphasized that libraries are required to “exercise due care in [the] selection, classification and access for materials.”
Three other board members besides Peña de Martinez voted for the motion: Pam Meridith of Cherokee Village, Jo Ann Campbell of Fort Smith and Chairwoman Deborah Knox of Mountain Home.
SB 184 would also have eliminated the commission that oversees Arkansas PBS and transferred both boards’ powers and authorities to the Arkansas Department of Education.
Discussion with bill sponsor ‘saved’ Arkansas PBS governing board from dissolution, chairman says
A discussion between Sullivan and West Doss, chairman of the Arkansas Educational Television Commission, “saved the commission” from “extinction,” Doss told the panel at its quarterly meeting March 6. SB 184 passed the state Senate on Feb. 17 with solely Republican support, and it has not been heard in a House committee.
Sullivan is a former colleague of Republican ex-lawmaker Jason Rapert of Conway, a member of the State Library Board who opposed the motion along with Shari Bales of Hot Springs, who was appointed alongside Rapert in 2023, and Sydney McKenzie of Rogers, the board’s newest member as of January. McKenzie is the wife of Rep. Brit McKenzie, R-Rogers.
More board business
By the same 4-3 vote, the board narrowly rejected two motions Rapert made Thursday: one to eliminate all references to the American Library Association from the board’s documents, and one to create an ad hoc committee of board members that would make recommendations to “protect children from sexually explicit materials” in public libraries.
Rapert made similar motions at February’s regularly scheduled board meeting. Since last year, he has consistently moved to withhold state funds from libraries where “sexually explicit” content is accessible by children, and the board has consistently voted down the motion.
He also made a twofold motion in February: to remove the ALA from the State Library’s standards for state aid to public libraries, and to remove participation in an ALA-accredited degree program from the State Library’s qualification requirements for scholarships aimed at librarians in training.
In the month since that meeting, a bill sponsored by Sullivan became Act 242 of 2025. The law will go into effect 90 days after the end of the legislative session. Public library directors in Arkansas will no longer be required to hold a master’s degree “from an accredited American Library Association program,” and someone with “work experience in the field of library operations” but without a master’s degree will be able to run a library with approval from its local governing board. Library directors spoke against the bill before a legislative committee Feb. 26.
Rapert and Sullivan have both criticized the statement within the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights that access to libraries should not be restricted based on a person’s age. Far-right conservatives nationwide have claimed this is proof that the ALA believes in forcing content about sexual activity and LGBTQ+ topics onto children.
Former ALA President Emily Drabinski called herself a Marxist in a 2022 tweet; Rapert and Sullivan have said this means ALA supports a political agenda and expects libraries to do the same.
New legislative language
Late Wednesday night, Sullivan submitted an amendment to the State Library’s fiscal year 2026 appropriation bill, House Bill 1127. Under the proposal, the State Library would not be allowed to “budget, allocate, or expend any funding to any library” that is affiliated with the ALA, including as a member; refers to ALA in any of its official documents; or “makes payments or grants of any kind” to the organization.”
The State Library Board would be required to make quarterly reports on libraries’ use of state funds to the Joint Budget Committee during legislative sessions and the Arkansas Legislative Council when the Legislature is not in session. Libraries that use state funds for ALA-related activities would be required to return the funds to the State Library.
In 2023, Sullivan sponsored Act 372, which would have changed libraries’ material reconsideration processes and created criminal liability for librarians who distribute content considered “obscene” or “harmful to minors.” The state is appealing a federal judge’s ruling that parts of the law are unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds.
The Joint Budget Committee adopted Sullivan’s amendment into HB 1127 Thursday morning, and its Special Language subcommittee will be responsible for approving the amendment before the committee votes on the entirety of the bill. The subcommittee’s next meeting will be at 9 a.m Tuesday.
The amendment specifies that the State Library will be responsible for making reports to legislative committees if the State Library Board is abolished.
Rapert has expressed support for the dissolution of the board several times, including Thursday, when he said the board had probably “sunk” itself by voting against his motion to detach the State Library from the ALA despite knowing about Sullivan’s amendment.
Arkansas PBS “at least was smart enough in their commission to make some changes, to try to do the right thing, but no… I think you’re going to go walk the plank,” Rapert told his fellow board members.
Sullivan has been a vocal critic of Arkansas PBS, particularly since its regularly scheduled 2022 audit indicated that administrators might have sidestepped state laws related to contract bidding. A specially requested audit that concluded last year led auditors to forward the findings to a prosecuting attorney.
Arkansas PBS CEO Courtney Pledger told lawmakers in September that the agency had learned from its “mistakes and errors.”
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