Introduced into the Illinois House January 23 by Representative Anne Stava-Murray and cosponsored by Representative Diane Blair-Sherlock, HB 4567 goals to shield library employees all through the state from harassment, threats, and disorderly conduct. The invoice comes in the brand new legislative session after the state handed the nation’s first anti-book ban invoice final 12 months and handled a number of bomb threats in the months following that invoice’s passage. The new invoice would amend the Criminal Code of 2012.
The invoice abstract reads as follows:
Includes in offense of threatening a public official or human service supplier, threatening a library worker. Provides that the risk to a public official, human service supplier, or library worker features a risk made electronically or by way of social media. Defines “library employee”. In the offense of threatening a public official, human service supplier, or library worker, contains in the definition of “public official” an worker of any State of Illinois constitutional workplace, State company, or the General Assembly. Provides that the offense of disorderly conduct contains transmitting or inflicting to be transmitted threats or false reviews electronically or by way of social media. Provides that disorderly conduct contains the realizing transmission of or inflicting to be transmitted in any method, together with electronically or by way of social media, a lewd, lascivious, indecent, or obscene message to a public official. Provides that making a terrorist risk or falsely making a terrorist risk contains making a terrorist risk or falsely making a terrorist risk by any technique of communication, together with electronically or by way of social media. Makes different adjustments.
Where as soon as library employees weren’t explicitly named amongst populations protected against threats, the brand new invoice would come with the occupation by identify. The threats can be investigated and brought severely, whether or not they got here in particular person or by way of digital means, together with social media.
Not solely does naming library employees in the Criminal Code lend legitimacy to the occupation–and it covers everybody inside a library from skilled librarians to shelvers, custodians, and others–it codifies the significance of libraries to democracy in the state. Protections would lengthen past public library employees, too. It additionally covers these working for personal libraries.
Amending the code to embody threats transmitted by way of digital means and social media legitimizes the present panorama of threats particularly focusing on public staff as effectively. Bomb threats despatched by way of e-mail to a library, for instance, can be thought-about a Class 1 felony. The present Code doesn’t embody threats acquired on-line.
Stava-Murray represents Illinois’s 81st district, which incorporates Downers Grove, in addition to components of Lisle, Naperville, Woodridge, Darien, Westmont, and Bolingbrook. Downers Grove was among the many libraries focused by protesters and threats over a teen drag queen bingo occasion in fall 2022. Other public libraries in the district have been topic to comparable threats and harassment. Diane Blair-Sherlock represents the forty sixth district, which incorporates all or components of Addison, Oak Brook Terrace, Carol Stream, Glen Ellyn, Elmhurst, Villa Park, and extra. Several of these libraries, together with Addison, had been topic tp bomb threats final fall.
Illinois residents are inspired to attain out to their representatives in help of the adjustments. The invoice has not moved to committee but, however when it does, take the time to additionally file a witness slip as a proponent of the invoice.
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