Iowa House Representative Helena Hayes, whose bill to criminalize librarians has moved rapidly through the legislature and which spawned a copycat bill in the Senate, has brought another anti-library bill to the House this week. House File 284 would cut off certain state funds to libraries if they are dues-paying members to the American Library Association (ALA) or the Iowa Library Association.
Those funds are called Enrich Iowa and they provide around $2.1 million in aid to public libraries statewide. Most of those funds are in the form of direct grants. About 450 libraries in the state receive these funds, and while they are not significant, all libraries squeeze what they can out of every penny.
Hayes claims the reason such a bill is needed is because the ALA opposes ratings placed on books in libraries. She’s frustrated that the ALA does not condone book censorship.
The ALA is the largest organization for library workers. Libraries become members of the association because membership provides not only ongoing education and support, but it allows access to further funding for library projects. Iowa libraries have benefitted from these funds. ALA grant money has gone to help add Iowa public libraries add accessible meeting rooms to facilities, recover following devastating weather events, and provide mobility tools for patrons to maneuver their library.
Lawmakers repeated the same lies about “inappropriate material” and “indoctrination” related to the ALA that have been spewed throughout the country over the last several years. When pressed to point to where and how specific books in public libraries are causing harm, legislators could not cite examples. Per reporting by the Iowa Capitol Dispatch, a state lobbyist for the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition claimed seeing a book called He’s My Mom at the Des Moines Public Library was objectionable.
Attempts to choke out libraries and librarians from affiliation with their professional organization are not new. This is fueled by misinformation peddled by the far right, who see the ALA as some kind of machine that encourages librarians to fill their shelves with “pornography,” “obscenity,” and “inappropriate material,” as well as one that trains library workers how to undermine parents through diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. As outrageous as that sentence sounds — do we see the same kinds of arguments lodged at, say, police professional organizations, despite the fact they, too, seek to educate law enforcement officers about diversity, equity, inclusion, social-emotional learning, and so forth? — it underscores what these book bans are actually about. It’s not the books. It’s about eliminating anything outside the far-right Christian agenda from American democracy.
When the book bans themselves are not enough to get the job done, ALA is a prime next target. By demonizing a professional organization, these individuals and groups are able to further damage the actual professionalization of the field — one that goes back to 1876. Disaffiliation is harmful to the libraries themselves, too, as the ALA provides grants and projects that are available only to those who are affiliated with the group (something pretty standard across all professional organizations, as membership dues help fund these things). ALA also helps libraries follow policies, procedures, and standards to ensure that these institutions are strong stewards of public money, that they follow ethical and legal guidelines, and that they actually serve the whole of a community. ALA lobbies on behalf of its members, too, ensuring that libraries are being funded and respected as one of the few democratic institutions in America.
Hayes’s bill plays into the ongoing moral panic around “inappropriate” material in libraries, and it seeks to further deprofessionalize libraries by setting up a system by which in order for Iowa libraries to get state-supported funding, they need to withdraw from their professional organization. Going a step further, House File 284 also applies to Iowa’s state library association, meaning that libraries would need to be completely unaffiliated with organizations that support their interests and development in order to receive Enrich Iowa funds.
Without question, Hayes seeks to destroy public libraries statewide. She and her affiliated legislators are drafting bills based on a moral panic they themselves created and continue to stoke. There are no inappropriate nor obscene materials in public libraries, as those are illegal to publish and distribute. The Miller Test has been eschewed in favor of “just trust me” politics–and at the speed these bills are being written and pushed through Iowa’s legislature, the future for Iowa public libraries looks particularly grim.
Just last spring, Louisiana legislators tried, but failed, to pass a bill that would criminalize librarians for being members of the American Library Association. It would not be out of the question for Hayes to draft a similar bill. House File 284 is written in a vague enough manner that while it seems as though it applies only to libraries with an American Library Association or Iowa Library Association membership, that vagueness is enough for those seeking to target public library workers to claim it also applies to anyone affiliated with the library, period.
House File 284 was introduced on February 10 as part of Hayes’s flurry of anti-library bills, and it was referred to the House Education Committee. It passed out of the Committee with recommendation on February 24, 2025.
If you live in Iowa, get on the phone, in the inboxes, and in the offices of your state Representatives and Senators. You can find who they are here. It is also crucial to keep an eye on the bills being pumped out at record speed in your state. You can do that via Legiscan, which allows you to subscribe to updates on each bill.