Indiana lawmakers abandon ban on ‘harmful’ library materials

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A provision that aimed to restrict Indiana students from accessing “harmful materials” at libraries has been killed for a final time after lawmakers voted down the language in the last minutes of the Legislative session.

Republican lawmakers made the last-minute decision Wednesday to ditch the provision, which was inserted in a bill that originally sought to modify sentencing procedures for inmates.

That was after they defeated other contentious education proposals earlier in the legislative session.

The language would have removed “educational purposes” as a reason that public schools and libraries could claim legal protection for sharing “harmful material” with minors.