New law kills Fresno County’s ‘book ban committee.’ Will the supervisors fight back?

Fresno County’s controversial review committee for children’s library books should be dismantled under a new state law, according to the legislation’s sponsor.

But the county is still weighing whether to fight back against what one Fresno lawmaker characterized as overreach from the state capitol.

“It’s a direct hit at Fresno County,” said Supervisor Steve Brandau, who spearheaded the push for Fresno County’s book committee, in an interview with Fresnoland. “It’s, to me, sad when they can’t let local government make any decisions.”

Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, a Democrat from Torrance, sponsored Assembly Bill 1825, which received Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature on Sept. 30.

The new law prevents the banning of library books that include diverse perspectives or sexual content unless that content qualifies as obscene.

“The decision as to what books to acquire or to remove from public library shelves is to be made by professionally trained librarians,” Muratsuchi told Fresnoland, “and not by any community morality standards committee, such as the one established by the Fresno County Board of Supervisors.”

The supervisors have yet to discuss the fate of Fresno County’s book committee in the wake of the new state law, Brandau said, but he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of battling Sacramento on this.

That could take the form of litigation – though Brandau said he’s unsure yet where the rest of the board would stand.

“It’s always possible,” he said. “I mean, we make decisions, and then, sometimes, we have to defend our decisions.”

Fresno County is currently getting sued by the California Justice Department over a ballot measure, approved by voters in March, that moved the election cycles for the Fresno County sheriff and district attorney back to the gubernatorial cycle.

It also sued the state over the renaming of Yokuts Valley in compliance with a new state law banning the word “squaw” from place names and geographical features across California.

Still, Brandau said he’s “not going to kick a dead horse” in the case of the library committee.

“We’re not just going to fight, just for the sake of fighting,” he said. “There has to be a pathway to success.”

In a statement, Fresno County spokesperson Sonja Dosti said the county is still “carefully reviewing the new legislation before making any recommendations to the Board of Supervisors.” 

Following a board of supervisors vote in November 2023, Fresno County’s 11-member Community Parent and Guardian Review Committee was supposed to determine group standards and maintain a list of books that fail to meet those standards.

Children would then have to receive explicit permission from a parent or guardian before checking out those books.

The county received over 100 applications from citizens looking to join the committee by the end of April.

However, as of August, no members had been appointed to the committee as the county waited to see whether AB 1825 would succeed.

Under AB 1825, Muratsuchi stressed that community members will still have the opportunity to raise questions about the “age-appropriateness” of books.

Specifically, it requires every public library to adopt a “collection development policy” by 2026 that guides the selection of library materials and establishes a process for community members to voice concerns.

But it keeps the ultimate decisions about those materials in the hands of professionally trained librarians rather than “politically appointed citizens committees,” he said.

Fresno County’s controversial 2023 resolution narrowly passed on a 3-2 vote, with Supervisors Brian Pacheco and Sal Quintero refusing to support the effort. Before voting to reject the committee last year, Quintero confirmed Fresno County already had procedures in place for community members to lodge formal objections and complaints to any library materials.