[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2147 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2147

 To prohibit States and local educational agencies that ban books from 
   receiving funds under the Student Support and Academic Enrichment 
                            Grants program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 23, 2021

  Mr. Joyce of Pennsylvania introduced the following bill; which was 
            referred to the Committee on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To prohibit States and local educational agencies that ban books from 
   receiving funds under the Student Support and Academic Enrichment 
                            Grants program.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Guarding Readers Independence and 
Choice Act'', or the ``GRINCH Act''.

SEC. 2. LOSS OF ELIGIBILITY FOR BANNING BOOKS.

    Subpart 1 of part A of title IV of the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7111 et seq.) is amended by adding at 
the end the following new section:

``SEC. 4113. LIMITATION ON ELIGIBILITY.

    ``(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
subpart, except as provided in subsection (b), a State or local 
educational agency that has in place any law or policy that prohibits 
the availability of books or other written materials to students, 
teachers, or schools within such State or local educational agency 
based on a determination that such books or materials contain offensive 
or outdated language or images shall not be eligible to receive funds 
under this subpart.
    ``(b) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be 
construed to prohibit a State or local educational agency from 
prohibiting the availability of books or other written materials that 
contain obscene or pornographic text or images or content that is 
harmful to minors.''.
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