Illinois Lifts Book Bans.
Illinois is set to become the first state to penalize public institutions that ban books. The state's governor, JB Pritzker, supports a House bill that would withhold state funding from any of the state's 1,600 public or school libraries that remove books from their shelves. The legislation was proposed by newly elected Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, who said he was "blown away" by the blatant and dangerous attempts to restrict reading materials. The bill requires libraries to adopt the American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights or their own written statement prohibiting book banning to remain eligible for grant funding.