South Carolina Legislature
Ties Library Funding to Filtering
The South Carolina legislature has approved a proviso in the 2001–2002 state budget specifying that libraries receiving state funds will have to install filters to eliminate or reduce access to Web sites displaying pornographic pictures or lose half their state funding.
One computer, or 10% of a library’s total computers, may remain unfiltered. Only college and university libraries will be exempt.
The proviso, which had passed the House earlier, was accepted May 30 by the senators on the six-member conference committee that is shaping a single budget bill from the House and Senate versions, the Charleston Post and Courier reported May 31. The committee hopes to have the budget ready to send to Gov. Jim Hodges before its scheduled adjournment on June 7, Dena Byerly, an aide to state Rep. Annette Young, told American Libraries. Young is one of the conferees.
Hodges signed a bill in October 2000 that set up a pilot program to determine whether Internet filtering software can block pornographic sites without hindering access to legitimate sites. A report is due December 1.
Posted June 4, 2001.
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