School library notices, daylight/standard time requirements advance in Legislature

By Fred Knapp , Senior Reporter/Producer Nebraska Public Media

March 11, 2025, midnight ·

Sen. Dave Murman speaks in the Legislature Tuesday (Photo by Fred Knapp, Nebraska Public Media News) — Sen. Dave Murman speaks in the Legislature Tuesday. (Photo by Fred Knapp, Nebraska Public Media News)

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Parents could require schools to inform them which books their children are checking out of school libraries under a bill moving ahead in the Nebraska Legislature. And senators once again advanced conflicting measures, to institute either year-round standard time or daylight saving time.

Sen. Dave Murman, chair of the Education Committee, is the lead sponsor of the bill (LB390) that would require schools to inform parents of what books their children are checking out of school libraries, if the parents ask. Murman talked about what his proposal would, and would not, do.

“Nothing in this bill makes any sort of ban or makes any restrictions on books that are or are not appropriate whatsoever," he said. "All this bill asks is to put parents in the driver's seat so they can have conversations with their children based upon their personal family values."

Sen. Megan Hunt opposed the bill, saying it would add unnecessary work for school personnel and turn them into informants.

“If the book is good enough to be in the school library and the student wants to read it, I don't think that a note needs to be sent home, or a list needs to be made, or a tracker needs to be activated so that people can know what kind of media and content these kids are consuming,” she said.

Hunt also said the bill could endanger LGBTQ students who are exploring their identity.

“Some students who are gay, who are not straight, live in homes where being suspected of being LGBTQ-plus could mean being kicked out," she said. "It could mean being disowned, abused, and if parents have automatic access to what their kids are reading and accessing at school, that could out a student, expose a student before they are ready, and put them in serious risk of harm if they are already going home to an unsafe place."

But Murman said the bill would enhance communication within families.

“It only encourages access for parents or the decision makers for the child, to see what their child is reading and to discuss with them or work with them, to help them with their reading or their studies, and give them more guidance if necessary, or less guidance, if they don't think they really need to further guide their child in what they're reading,” he said.

Sen. Danielle Conrad supported the bill as a matter of parental rights. She said the bill is much less drastic than a proposal Murman supported last year, and she opposed, under which school personnel could have been prosecuted for providing obscene material to students. And Conrad, a liberal Democrat, lamented that some opposition to Murman, a conservative Republican, seemed a carryover from that battle, rather than an understanding of his proposal this year. She cited online comments about the bill.

“They're really again, in that very kind of binary approach to whether or not we should ban books," she said. "And that's not the measure before you. That's not what LB390 says or does or is intended to do, but it's part of that broader mistrust and skepticism because of the scar tissue that exists from some of those past battles."

Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh tried to amend another portion of the bill, requiring schools to give parents access to a catalogue of what books are in their libraries. Cavanaugh’s amendment would have specified that the requirement applied only to schools that parents’ children were attending, not to all schools in a district. That proposal got only 12 votes, with 18 senators opposed. The Legislature then voted 25-2 first round approval of Murman’s bill, with only Cavanaugh and Hunt voting no.

Also Tuesday, senators gave second-round approval to two bills – LB34, which require the state to adopt year-round daylight saving time, and LB302, which would mandate year-round standard time.

Second-round consideration is often perfunctory, with no debate and measures advanced simply on a voice vote. But when it appeared that might happen for the two contradictory pieces of legislation, Cavanaugh spoke up.

“Hey, colleagues, what are we doing? We got LB34 and LB302. Did we decide?” she asked.

Senators did then debate both proposals. Hunt advocated for year-round daylight saving time.

“After we had the time change on Sunday, I can't tell you how much my mood is lifted. I think that winter time is the most depressing thing in the world, and I think it would be really hard to have that year round,” she said.

Sen. Tanya Storer argued for year-round standard time.

“I would agree with you, Sen. Hunt. Winter can be a little a little depressing for lack of daylight, but daylight savings time in those --you know, November, December, January months -- to me, would be even more difficult for those of us that are light sensitive, because it would be darker later in the morning when we're expected to be at work,” she said.

Senators then voted to advance both bills, with some senators voting for both, leaving any decision to the third and final round of debate.