This edition of Forbidden Florida Reads departs from its usual format to report on the 2026 Legislative Session.
Two controversial education bills critics warned would expand book bans and censorship in Florida schools failed to pass during the 2026 Florida Legislative Session.
The bills, HB 1119 and HB 1071, advanced in the Florida House but stalled in the Senate. Both bills were sponsored by Dana Trabulsy, R-St. Lucie County.
HB 1119 sought to expand how Florida defines material “harmful to minors.” Under the bill, works containing sexual content of “whatever kind or form” could be deemed harmful if they appeal to “prurient, shameful, or morbid interest.”
HB 1119 was an effort to restore a portion of Florida Statute 1006.28, which was struck down in US District Court in August 2025. The Court ruled the statute’s criteria for censorship was “unconstitutional and overbroad.”
HB 1119 would also have prohibited decision-makers from considering a book’s literary, artistic, political or scientific value – criteria the U.S. Supreme Court said must be weighed when evaluating obscenity in Miller v. California. Schools found “non-compliant” could have faced funding penalties.
HB 1071 focused on curriculum materials rather than library books. The bill would have allowed Florida’s education commissioner to remove from schools all of a publisher’s state-adopted materials if a single title violated state law. The offending publisher could be barred from state adoption for up to five years.
An alternative proposal, HB 6031, was filed by Jennifer Rita Harris, D-Orange County. HB 6031 sought to repeal Florida’s book-ban laws entirely but stalled in committee.
Though these bills died in 2026, the political debate surrounding book bans in Florida schools is far from settled. Similar proposals have surfaced repeatedly in recent legislative sessions, suggesting the fight is far from over.