Censorship concerns rise over Texas bill; Abilene bookstore pushes back

Yahoo

23-04-2025

ABILENE, Texas () – A bill set to be heard by the Judiciary and Jurisprudence Committee at the Texas House is sparking criticism from small business owners across the state. Arlene Kasselman, who owns Seven and One Books in downtown Abilene, is raising awareness on social media about House Bill 1375.
'As independent bookstore owners, the American Booksellers Association and then our regional association keep us up to date on things that are going to affect small businesses, bookstores, and libraries. So, they're very communicative. That's where I first started hearing some of the chatter,' Kasselman recalled.
Kasselman began researching the bill and discovered it could have serious implications for small businesses, potentially leading to censorship and limits on educational materials. HB1375 allows individuals to sue if they're harmed by obscene or harmful content, particularly when it's accessible to minors. Under the bill, businesses that help distribute such content can be held liable, and the law lowers the bar for plaintiffs to win those lawsuits.
'With this bill, people can self-define what is harmless because the bill is saying that legal action can be taken against a bookstore that would sell harmful material to a minor. It's already illegal to put things in the hands of a minor that would be harmful to them,' Kasselman explained. 'But this is saying that the bookstore can be sued, and there can be a civil suit based on the minor having harmful material in their hands. But the definition of harmful is the problem. The biggest concern that we have is that for small businesses, first of all, we can't afford the lawsuits.'
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With the definition of what is harmful being so broad, Texas Freedom to Read Co-Founder Anne Russey said that she has heard opinions on why certain books should be banned in public schools and libraries. This bill is different as it targets privately owned businesses.
'For example, to walk into a bookstore and if the child picks up a book that the parent decides they have a problem with, they could kind of raise a frivolous claim, like, oh, that book is harmful to minors under this law,' Russey shared.
Russey believes the language in this bill will ultimately harm small businesses and consumers.
'When it comes to private retailers and purchasing, it's really scary to think that the state and the government might be trying to infringe on our liberties to purchase the books that we want to purchase for our families or booksellers freedom to run their business in ways that allow them to generate revenue and income that they put back into their communities through taxes and just all the different ways that bookstores enrich our communities and really serve us as Texans,' shared Russey.
Taylor County Republican Chairman Ryan Goodwin has previously voiced support for removing books deemed inappropriate for minors. He noted that conversations about book restrictions have been ongoing for years, but he's skeptical that this particular bill will gain traction. With only one author and no co-sponsors so far, Goodwin doubts it will even reach the House floor. If similar legislation moves forward in the future, he hopes it will include clear and specific language defining what constitutes material harmful to minors.
'In my opinion, I don't see a co-sponsor on this bill, and it seems to still be in committee. So, it hasn't touched the House floor yet. I don't see it making it to the House floor, but we could be surprised, and it could still be vague in some areas. But at this point, it just hasn't had enough momentum yet to make it to the House floor,' said Goodwin.
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Kasselman noted that during her upbringing in South Africa, she witnessed the effects of censorship on her home country. She has a dedicated section for banned books in her store.
'I think the reason it's so significant is that it is really a censorship issue. I grew up in South Africa in a time when all of that information was censored; that was not a healthy situation. In fact, I had a German customer in here who's a resident now in America and lives here in Abilene. He said, 'thank you for having the banned books section, because I know firsthand the cost of banning books and I think if we forget our history and we forget that it really doesn't even take burning books to change a culture, it just takes stopping good people from reading them,'' explained Kasselman.
She added that while this bill is still in the early stages, it is something that many bookstores across Texas will watch closely.
'We're given the option of either not allowing minors in the bookstore or having to card people potentially before they can purchase things. Now, am I trying to put pornographic material or overly violent material in the hands of a minor? Absolutely not. But when you have things that are on the book banning list that are like The Diary of Anne Frank or Octavia Butler's writings or 1984 Animal Farm, those are the kind of books that are going to be targeted,' shared Kasselman.
The Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee will hear testimony from both supporters and opponents of the bill on Wednesday morning.
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