Bill proposes cutting library district terms from six years to four
Idahoans could soon go to the ballot box more often to elect the leaders of their library districts.
On Wednesday, the Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee introduced a bill from Senator Scott Herndon, R-Sagle, shortening the term lengths of library district trustees. Currently, the boards of five trustees are elected for six-year terms. Herndon’s bill would expand the boards to six members with four-year terms, with half the board being elected every other year.
Library trustees for cities operating their own libraries would still be appointed by the mayor and city council. The bill would take effect in January 2025 and all recently elected trustees in 2023 would serve out their full six-year terms. Herndon said four-year terms put the trustees in line with school boards and cemetery district trustees.
This bill comes after libraries have become political battlegrounds nationwide over materials available on the shelves, particularly for teens and children. Some conservative groups have sought to have certain books either removed from libraries, moved to the adult section, or only available behind the counter. Books featuring LGBTQ characters and issues, either consensual or non-consensual sexual content and race have been fiercely debated by parents, librarians and educators across the country.
Last year, the Ada County Commissioners held a public hearing with record-breaking attendance over a petition from Concerned Citizens of Meridian over whether or not to dissolve the Meridian Library District and establish it with a new board of trustees appointed by the Republican majority county commission. At the hearing, residents in favor of the dissolution said they were concerned about books they called “pornographic” in the children’s section. The commissioners declined to dissolve the library district, calling it an “overly broad” solution to a specific problem.
Voters in the Meridian Library District supported incumbent trustees in the 2023 election with nearly 70% of the vote.
The Ada County Community Library board initially voted last spring to remove six titles from its shelves, including adult graphic novel “Gender Queer” and Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye.” The titles were returned after the Idaho Statesman reported on the removal and the board violated open meeting law by voting to take the books off the shelves without noticing it as an action item on the agenda. The removal came after the Idaho Legislature passed a bill in 2023 that would have opened library staff members up to misdemeanor charges for making books defined by law as ‘harmful to minors’ available to those under 18, but Governor Brad Little later vetoed the bill.
