Amends TCA Title 10, Chapter 1 and Title 10, Chapter 3.

PETITION PROHIBITING OBSCENE LIBRARY MATERIAL<br /> <br /> This bill authorizes the residents of a district to circulate a petition for signatures for the purposes of prohibiting each library within a district from displaying, distributing, or making readily accessible to minors any content or material in possession of a library that is specified in the petition as not meeting contemporary community standards. To be valid, the petition must satisfy the following conditions:<br /> <br /> (1) The petition must be signed by adult legal residents within a district numbering not less than 2 percent of the total number of the legal voters who voted in the last gubernatorial election in such district; and<br /> <br /> (2) Conform to the requirements of the secretary of state under this bill.<br /> <br /> This bill requires a petition to be filed with each county election commission within a district. Upon receipt of a petition by a county election commission within a district, the commission or commissions, as applicable, must validate the petition and upon validation, provide notice along with a copy of the title of the petition, the district to which it applies, the content or material that is the subject of the petition, and the signature pages of the petition to each library within the applicable commission's jurisdiction. Upon receipt of notice and the portion of the petition, the libraries within the district must not display, distribute, or make readily accessible to minors any content or material in possession of the library as specified in the petition as not meeting contemporary community standards.<br /> <br /> This bill requires the secretary of state to promulgate rules to do the following:<br /> <br /> (1) Establish a format for a petition, the minimum standards for the correct and legally sufficient statement of the petition purpose, the content and material which is the subject of the petition, and the minimum legally required information for individual petition signatories. The formatting rule must require that the following be on separate and distinct pages: (i) the title of the petition, the district to which it applies, and the content or material that is the subject of the petition; and (ii) the signature pages of the petition;<br /> <br /> (2) Establish procedures and reasonable time limits after petition submission to a county election commission by which such commission must verify and certify the validity of the petition in accordance with this bill;<br /> <br /> (3) Provide the time limits to county election commissions with instruction on signature verification, communication between such commissions, affected libraries, and the secretary of state, and methods by which to cure any defects of petition submitters; and<br /> <br /> (4) Establish a process by which to challenge the validity or purported purpose of a petition that (i) must be adjudicated as a contested case under the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act; and (ii) upon issuance of a final decision regarding the petition in accordance with this bill, permits an aggrieved party, including one or more petition signatories, to appeal the decision to chancery court.<br /> <br /> This bill also requires the secretary of state to post a valid petition, excluding the signature pages, on its website, including the purpose of and number of signatories on the petition, and each library to which the petition applies. The secretary of state must prominently publish on its website that any legally sufficient petition signatory or group of petition signatories have standing to be a party to a challenge to the validity or purported purpose of a petition and any subsequent appeal or judicial action regarding the same in accordance with this bill.<br /> <br /> This bill provides that a petition signatory or group of petition signatories has standing as a party to such action or hearing in an administrative or judicial hearing on the validity or purported purpose of a petition.<br /> <br /> This bill authorizes a petition in force to be amended or modified in the same manner as the petition in force.<br /> <br /> LIBRARY'S RESPONSIBILITIES <br /> <br /> Upon receipt of a notice and petition without the signature pages, this bill requires a library to immediately do the following:<br /> <br /> (1) Remove from places and locations readily accessible to or viewable by minors all content and material specified in the petition; <br /> <br /> (2) Ensure that no content or material specified in a petition can be distributed to minors; <br /> <br /> (3) Publish on its website that content and material specified in the petition are no longer available to minors; <br /> <br /> (4) Notify the governing library board and appropriate local governmental legislative body; and<br /> <br /> (5) Report completion of such actions to the secretary of state.<br /> <br /> This bill prohibits a library from permitting the restoration, replacement, or repositioning of content and material specified in a petition to its original location or in a manner that permits its display, distribution, or ready accessibility to a minor unless the petition is found to be invalid, in whole or in part, in accordance with the petition review and appeal process established by the secretary of state pursuant to this bill. If a petition is found to be invalid in part, then a library may only take action with respect to that content or material that is deemed to be outside the scope of the otherwise valid petition. <br /> <br /> This bill prohibits the division of public libraries and archives, a regional library board operating, or another library board or governing entity of a library from countermanding, invalidating, modifying, or otherwise seeking to bar the application of a petition or the contents of a petition, as applicable, in accordance with this bill, or to reverse or modify decisions by a library concerning content or material repositioned or restricted for purposes of denying viewing by or access to minors as the result of a valid petition applicable to such library unless the petition is found to be invalid, in whole or in part, in accordance with the petition review and appeal process established by the secretary of state pursuant to this bill. If a petition is found to be invalid in part, the division, library board, or governing entity may only take action with respect to that content or material that is deemed to be outside the scope of the otherwise valid petition. <br />