Rep Paul Hollis (R) - Covington
Mandeville Representative Paul Hollis has filed a bill for the upcoming regular session that he calls the Public Library Accountability Act. Hollis says his legislation gives power to municipalities and parishes to make sure their library system operates the way they want it to.
“People in St. Tammany Parish brought me a handful of books that were absolutely scary and they were outraged and I said this should not be,” said Hollis.
Hollis says he wants to give local governments the ability to remove individuals from library control boards.
“What I like to do is give the full Legislature to clear it up and to say yes these library boards serve at the pleasure of the local communities,” said Hollis.
State Attorney General Jeff Landry issues a legal opinion stating local governments have the authority to remove members of Library Control Boards. But Hollis says 21 years ago the attorney general at that time, Richard Ieyoub, issued an opposite opinion on that question.
LGBTQ advocates say the efforts to control the type of reading material found in libraries is an effort to censor certain books dealing with homosexuality and gender identity. But Hollis says taxpayer money should not be used to acquire some of the books he’s seen in libraries.
“If you had three or four of the books that were given to me by outraged parents and you think that belongs in a library, I would think you lost your mind,” said Hollis.
The legislation will be heard in the regular legislative session which begins April 10th.
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