A Nebraska bill to subject librarians to charges for giving 'obscene material' to children fails

A bill that would have held school librarians and teachers criminally responsible for providing “obscene material” to Nebraska students in grades K-12 failed to advance Wednesday in the Legislature. State Sen. Joni Albrecht, who introduced the bill, said it simply would close a “loophole” in the state’s existing obscenity laws that prohibit adults from giving such material to minors. But critics panned it as a way for a vocal minority to ban books they don’t like from school and public library shelves. The heated debate over the bill led the body’s Republican Speaker of the Legislature to slash debate times in half on bills he deemed as covering “social issues” for the remaining 13 days of the session.