Tennessee Senate bill in Session 114.
Status: failed. Latest action: April 8, 2026.
AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 10, relative to reconsideration of library materials.
This bill requires e ach public library established by a county, city, or town to adopt a materials reconsideration policy that provides a process by which a legal resident of the county where the library is located may request that the library withdraw an item from the library's collection or reclassify or move the item to a different area in the library. As used in this bill, an " item"" includes a physical book, electronic book, magazine, audio recording, digital resource, and game. Such policy must meet all of the following criteria: Allow for an item in the library's collection, whether circulated internally for in - library use only or circulated externally for use outside of the library, to be subject to a request for reconsideration . Utilize a materials reconsideration application form developed by the respective library administrator to request reconsideration of an item (""application""). Allow a legal resident of the county in which the library is located to request that the library withdraw, move, or reclassify an item from the library's collection . Require a n application submitted by a resident to a library to be sent to the applicable library board (""board"") within seven days of receipt of the application. Within 90 days of receipt of a n application, the board must respond with the library's decision. Require that the board approve the action that a library takes in response to each application . Provide that all decisions of the board concerning an item are final and that the decision as to an item will remain in effect for a specified time period that does not exceed 30 months and establish that the board must not consider a n application for an item for which such a decision is in effect . However, the board may reconsider the item on the board's own motion . Establish that items in other libraries' collections that are available to a library through interlibrary loan or any other mechanism are not subject to the policy. This bill authorizes the policy to do all of the following: Require the applicant to attest that the applicant has read, watched, or listened to the entire item that is the subject of the application . Require a person filing a n application to present a government-issued photo identification, if the person possesses photo identification, that includes the person's address. If a person does not possess photo identification, then the library may require other forms of identification evidencing the person's residency in the county that the library is located . Set a maximum number of applications that any individual or group of individuals deemed working in concert may file during a rolling 12 -month period . Allow the board to deny a n application if the board determines that the application was filed with the intent to disrupt library operations or board operation s . This bill does not preclude a library from removing an item during the normal course of business for reasons independent of any application decision. The board must approve any policy as described in this bill and any change to such policy."
| Date | Event | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-02-02 | Introduced | Bill introduced |
| 2026-04-08 | Status | failed |
| 2026-04-08 | Latest Action | Taken off notice for cal. in State & Local Government Committee |