During the Wyoming Legislature’s “interim” session this summer and fall, small groups of lawmakers met as committees to discuss specific issues and to craft bills to sponsor for the 2026 budget session, which starts Feb. 9.
Better Wyoming volunteers have engaged with a number of these issues, often attending or testifying at meetings, writing op-eds, and contacting lawmakers.
In a series of blog posts, we bring folks up to date with where committees landed and what folks can expect during the session.
ISSUE: Legislators are attempting to ban books in public and school libraries that contain material they find offensive.
COMMITTEE: Joint Judiciary Committee
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OVERVIEW
The Legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee voted to sponsor a bill to try to define “sexually explicit” books and make them inaccessible to minors in school and public libraries.
This has been part of a years-long effort by the far-right Wyoming Freedom Caucus and Moms for Liberty in their joint campaign to attack public schools and libraries.
A failed bill sponsored by former Rep. Jeanette Ward of Casper even threatened to lock up librarians who violated the proposed law.
This effort, which mirrors efforts in states across America, has had an impact across Wyoming. For instance, Terri Lesley was fired as director of the Campbell County Public Library after complaints about a display of LGBTQ-themed books.
That controversy led to attacks on library boards and staff in Lander, Casper, Cheyenne and other communities. Moms for Liberty chapters began endorsing school board candidates, and several won seats. They sought changes in library policies on books challenged by the public to effectively ban them from young children and teens.
During last year’s interim session, Better Wyoming, the Wyoming Library Association, Wyoming Families for Freedom, parents and educators voiced strong opposition to the committee’s latest bill.
Nevertheless, the committee voted to sponsor a measure that would take away the ability of professional librarians to do their jobs.
Parents should be responsible for what their kids read, not state legislators and extremist groups.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
The Joint Judiciary Interim Committee voted 11-2 in October to sponsor the bill. The public was shut out of the process during this final meeting, and not allowed to testify.
The bill contains unprecedented changes to current law, including the right of anybody to sue a library or school district for unspecified “damages.” This could lead to people combing through books for a single “sexually explicit” passage to file a lawsuit against the library.
Depending on the size of any monetary awards made by courts, the bill could severely defund libraries and threaten their ability to operate. Several small libraries throughout Wyoming have already closed recently due to lack of county revenues after the Legislature cut property taxes last year.
Rep. Ken Chestek of Laramie, one of two “no” votes on the Joint Judiciary Committee against the bill, said the bill creates a “bounty hunter” situation by encouraging people, whether they have children or not, to sue libraries and collect damages for books if they are accessible to minors.
The bill requires public libraries to relocate books politicians deem “sexually explicit” into the adult section, but school libraries do not have adult sections. “This is straight-up book banning,” Chestek said. “No question about it.”
WHAT'S NEXT?
Better Wyoming will continue to organize opposition against the book banning bill in the run-up and during the 2026 budget session.
We will co-host two screenings of a film, The Librarians, a cautionary tale and rallying cry for freedom that’s told through the personal experiences of librarians under siege in several states during an unprecedented wave of book banning.
The budget session starts Feb. 9. The book-ban bill will need a two-thirds vote to be introduced.