A federal judge has blocked a major part of Texas’s book-rating law, known as HB 900 or the READER Act. The law, introduced by Rep. Jared Patterson, required book vendors to rate every book sold to public school libraries for sexual explicitness and prevented schools from buying books marked as “sexually explicit.” However, the December 2023 State Board of Education rule still requires school districts to have policies prohibiting library materials rated as sexually explicit by vendors.
On October 22, U.S. District Judge Alan D. Albright ruled that the vendor-rating mandate was unconstitutional. He described it as “subjective, confusing, and unworkable.” This decision came after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that important parts of HB 900 likely violate free-speech protections. Although Texas could appeal further, a panel from the Fifth Circuit had already supported the district court’s findings that the law compels speech in an unconstitutional way. The full court also declined to rehear the case in January 2024.
Before this ruling, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 13 (SB 13) earlier in the year to address legal concerns about HB 900. SB 13 moved away from state-mandated vendor ratings and instead increased local oversight by giving parents more access to library records and creating advisory councils with parent representatives.
Supporters say SB 13 gives more control to local communities, but critics argue it still places subjective content standards on schools and creates additional paperwork and inconsistent expectations across different districts. In effect, some believe it maintains similar censorship pressures as HB 900 under another name.
The stated goal of both laws is protecting children from inappropriate content. However, many observers note that these measures are often used to target books about LGBTQ+ issues and communities of color for removal.
While vendors are no longer required to rate books under HB 900 due to the court’s decision, other parts of Texas’s approach remain active—such as new collection standards adopted by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission in late 2023 and SB 13’s local requirements. This has resulted in uneven censorship policies statewide, leaving educators uncertain about what materials they can use and reducing students’ chances to find diverse stories in their libraries.
These ongoing legal battles shift focus away from classroom needs and put teachers and librarians into difficult positions regarding what content is acceptable for students. While opponents of HB 900 succeeded in challenging one aspect of the law through the courts, broader debates over intellectual freedom continue throughout Texas classrooms.
