Alabama’s public libraries are governed locally to serve communities, not volatile political interests. For decades, independent boards have upheld the freedom to read, managed collections responsibly, and shielded staff and patrons from political pressure.

While the bill is being presented as a “technical update,” its true effect is sweeping: it would undermine the independence of every county, municipal, and joint library board in Alabama and open the door for political coercion at a moment when the APLS Board is advancing aggressive rules aimed at censorship and ideological control.

Under current law, library board members are appointed to fixed terms. This structure ensures continuity, stability, and protection from arbitrary removal. As proposed, SB26 destroys that safeguard. The bill states that library board members would now “serve at the pleasure” of their appointing bodies. That means any board member could be removed at any time. While a two-thirds vote of a city council or county commission would be required, no cause needs to be shown. A board could be replaced overnight by a politically motivated city or county council if the board refuses to comply with their directives.

Send an email today to your state legislators asking them to Oppose SB26.

SB26 also weakens local boards by changing their role from 'governing and supervising' libraries to merely 'supervising' them. This strategic change narrows board authority just as the state expands its power. This is part of a larger pattern sweeping across the country: state governments attempting to weaken local control of public institutions in order to impose ideologically driven mandates. It will make Alabama’s libraries less resilient, less community-responsive, and less free.

This is not a small administrative change. It turns every library board in Alabama into a political instrument. At a time when library staff are already under pressure, SB26 would give political actors the power to remove local board members who do not comply with political demands.

At the same time SB26 is being introduced, the Alabama Public Library Services Board has advanced a sweeping new rule prohibiting public library collections from holding any materials that include representation of transgender people. This rule is discriminatory on its face, violates fundamental First Amendment principles, and targets an already marginalized community for erasure. It intends to pressure local boards and library staff into ideological compliance under threat of state sanction. In this environment, SB26’s push to strip library boards of independence and force them into a direct reporting relationship with state political leadership is especially alarming. It would give the same state actors who created this unconstitutional rule new tools to monitor, intimidate, and coerce local libraries.

SB26 takes this APLS Board action to a new level by creating, in effect, a state surveillance and reporting system for library decisions. It would require every local library board in Alabama to submit an annual report directly to the Governor, the Speaker of the House, and the President Pro Tem of the Senate. That report must include not only board membership but also “any actions the board has taken regarding the review or removal of items in their collection.” 

Naming these constitutional officers is intended to create a veneer of legitimacy on what is otherwise state coercion regarding viewpoint and anti-personal discrimination. It creates direct oversight from the highest levels of state government into individual library collection decisions. These decisions have always been handled locally, transparently, and in accordance with professional standards, and according to the law. It is impossible to read this requirement in isolation from recent APLS Board actions and the Governor’s rhetoric. 

Join Read Freely Alabama in urging lawmakers to reject SB26 and preserve the independence and integrity of our local libraries.

Please take action today to protect Alabama’s Libraries. This bill will move quickly, and its consequences will be long-lasting. We must speak up now. Add your name and stand with us to defend the freedom to read and protect Alabama’s independent library boards.