8 December 12 - 18, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Ramon. “Additionally, if you can open your heart and home as a foster through the holi- day season, your support would mean the world to us and them. Together, we can make a lasting difference.” ▼ LEGISLATURE BOOK IT EARLY BILLS FILED BY STATE LEGISLATORS SHOW THAT TEXAS REPUBLICANS COULD BE TEEING UP FOR A BOOK BANNING BONANZA. BY EMMA RUBY T he filing period for state legislators to introduce bills they hope to push through in the next session has been open for nearly a month, and the Observer has tracked everything from the wackiest proposals to those that would target the transgender community. This week we rounded up several bills that would encourage book review and ban- ning in schools, libraries and bookstores across the state. One of the most notable proposals, House Bill 193, was filed by Representative Jared Patterson of Frisco, whose name you may recognize from the Restricting Explicit and Adult-Designated Educational Re- sources, or READER Act, that was passed in 2023. The act requires booksellers to rate the appropriateness of books based on sex- ual content prior to selling the books to schools, but key portions of the bill have been blocked by state appeals courts. Enforceable portions prohibit school li- braries from keeping books with depictions or descriptions of sex or sexual activity on shelves. Patterson, who admitted to having never read Lonesome Dove but still wants to ban it, isn’t stopping with the READER act; a state- ment on his website announcing H.B. 193 stated that the Representative is instead “doubling down” on book banning. “We have heard [about H.B. 193] and are gearing up to stand up to Patterson just like we did in 2023,” a spokesperson for the ad- vocacy group Students Engaged in Advanc- ing Texas — which spoke against the READER Act on the state Senate floor — told the Observer. H.B. 193 would create a statewide library material review process under the jurisdic- tion of the State Board of Education. The Board currently reviews textbooks for ap- proval, and proponents of a statewide library review measure have likened the proposed process to the one the State Board currently uses to approve curriculum. Library content management has been a task for local school boards, but the State Board has come out in favor of having more control over what books are allowed in public schools. Last month, the board asked the Leg- islature to approve a measure such as Patter- son’s in the upcoming legislative session. “This board knows how to vet material. We have processes. We know how to do that. We can create a transparent process to do that work,” Board Member Tom Maynard told the Texas Tribune last month. Patterson’s bill would allow parents to submit content challenges directly to the State Board, and there is no listed limit for the number of books a parent could submit for review. Submitted titles would have to be removed from libraries across the state until the Board delivers a ruling; if the board rules that a book is inappropriate, it would be per- manently removed. The result would be a book ban list that spans every public school district in the state. Utah recently implemented a statewide banned book list, and has deemed 13 titles forbidden since this summer. Among the dis- carded titles is the popular A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas, and titles by Judy Blume and Margaret Atwood. “If this amendment passes, the state will come for your kids’ school library books – even if you don’t want your student’s access to books restricted or removed,” the Texas Freedom to Read Project posted to X. “Even if your local board policy is solid and you’ve had no book challenges.” Several other bills could be helping to tee up Texas’ book-banning bonanza. Senate Bill 88, filed by Sen. Bob Hall of Edgewood, would lower the barrier for books or content to be deemed offensive for minors. Texas currently outlaws the distribu- tion of content that is “harmful to minors” to anyone under 18, but the material’s dominant theme must be considered harmful in order to qualify. Hall wants to remove that little clarification at the end, so that any book with mature themes — re- gardless of context, intent or the book’s overall theme — would be illegal to give or sell to a minor. Nor is this change applicable only to public schools: bookstores and libraries would be held to the same standard. (We are left imagining stern librarians checking drivers licenses before unlocking the Twi- light series from an iron cabinet, or students huddling in alleys to purchase fake IDs be- fore heading to Barnes & Noble for the latest Colleen Hoover novel trending on TikTok.) Another Patterson proposal, H.B. 267, would eliminate the argument that an adult or educator had a “scientific, educational, governmental or other similar” reason to distribute the aforementioned “harmful” material to minors. “These bills won’t actually do much un- less SB 88 or a bill like it also passes,” Frank Strong, co-founder of the Texas Freedom to Read Project, wrote on Substack last week. “But if the definition of “harmful to minors” changes to include Toni Morrison or Alice Walker books, all bets are off.” ▼ CITY HALL P’S MAKER FOR THE THIRD YEAR IN A ROW, MAYOR JOHNSON EMPHASIZED HIS SUPPORT FOR INITIATIVES THAT BEGIN WITH THE LETTER P. BY EMMA RUBY D allas Mayor Eric Johnson stood be- fore the horseshoe last week and de- livered his sixth annual State of the City address, a speech mandated by the Dal- las City Charter to address the state of Dal- las’ financial condition, accomplishments and plans for the future. The mayor touched on many of his rou- tine talking points: public safety, Dallas’ in- vestment in professional sports and the millions of dollars being poured into the city’s park system. Dallas, Johnson has long maintained, is and should remain a land of opportunity for all residents. But he broke from his usual tenor on sev- eral occasions: while discussing public safety, Johnson acknowledged Darron Burkes, the Dallas Police Officer who was shot and killed in Oak Cliff over the summer, as a hero. “I pray that the city of Dallas never for- gets his sacrifice or his name,” Johnson said in a somber moment. At the end of Johnson’s brief address, we left with three main takeaways about the mayor’s vision for Dallas next year. 1. The 4 Ps Aren’t Going Anywhere In many ways, Johnson’s 2024 address mir- rored the speeches made in 2023 and 2022. For the last three years, the mayor has reiter- ated his concerns for the four Ps — public safety, parks, potholes and property taxes — to the extent that the 2024 and 2023 State of the City addresses are almost identical when put side by side. (Johnson referred to the Three Ps — public safety, parks and potholes — in his 2022 address, although he did acknowledge property taxes later on in the speech.) “These four pillars are essential to Dallas remaining a city of opportunity for every- one,” Johnson said. If the 2022 address introduced the Ps to Dallas, the 2023 address was an opportunity to lobby for them ahead of major city elec- tions like the bond and Dallas City Charter. To that extent, this year’s address was a vic- tory lap for Johnson. A $1.25 billion bond “overwhelmingly ap- proved” by voters this year provides record amounts of funding for parks, and the Hal- perin Deck park over Interstate 35 was granted the largest private donation in Dal- las’ history. Johnson has upheld the city’s parks as the great equalizer across Dallas’ demographics, and the advancements to our parks during his administration have been an undisputed success, evidence that “the state of our city is stronger than ever.” It is repetitive, though, to hear the mayor harping on the same four P-lettered talking points year after year; one starts to wonder, as we cheer for the successes of the year past, what road is Dallas on for the future? 2. Public Safety Is Johnson’s Biggest Priority In a rare glimpse of Johnson’s plans for Dllas next year, he announced that he will release Dallas’ “first-ever comprehensive public safety policy” in the coming months. He provided no details of what this would look like, but the endeavor will be headed by city council member Cara Mendelsohn, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, and by the next police chief. “In order to be a city of genuine opportu- nity, Dallas must be safe first and foremost,” he said. The comprehensive plan is intended to guide the “next decade” of Dallas’ approach to safety and policing, he added. Investments in a new Dallas Police train- ing center are “emblematic” of Dallas’ sup- port for the police department, and the city council’s recent approval of a 30-year pen- sion funding plan for retired police and fire personnel reinforces the city’s dedication to first responders, he said. Johnson also pointed to public safety data showing Dallas’ violent crime rate has fallen from last year as evidence that the city is on the right track. While Johnson credited the city’s Violent Crime Reduction Plan with decreasing crime for the last four years, it is unclear how the resignation of Dallas Police Chief Eddie Gar- cia — a major champion of the plan — will im- pact future public safety efforts. Dallas’ next police chief will be hired by the next city manager, making it of the “ut- most importance” to hire a city manager who prioritizes public safety as much as he does, Johnson said. 3. City Hall Needs To “Hear” Voters on Charter Amendments Aside from an op-ed published in the Dallas Morning News, Johnson has largely steered away from conversations involving several controversial city charter amendments — two of which were approved by voters in November — that critics warn will Art Credit More book-banning measures are in store for 2025. Unfair Park from p6 >> p10
