Administrative Rules
State administrative rules that implement book-ban legislation. These are not bills — they are agency rulemaking (usually by state boards of education) that translate statutes into operational procedures for schools and libraries. Administrative rules are independently citable, have their own adoption and amendment lifecycle, and often determine how a law is actually enforced on the ground.
5 rules currently tracked. Every rule must cite a public source URL — read the methodology.
- effective
Hargett Letter 2025-10-31 — Letter directing Tennessee Regional Library System members to undertake an immediate age-appropriateness review of juvenile children's-section materials, with final report due 2026-01-19
Tennessee Secretary of State · Tennessee
On October 31, 2025, Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett sent letters to the 181 libraries in the Tennessee Regional Library System directing each to 'undertake an immediate age-appropriateness review (over the next 60 days) of all materials in your juvenile children's section' to 'identify any materials that may be inconsistent with Tennessee age-appropriateness laws, in violation of any federal law, including President Trump's Executive Order, or otherwise contrary to any other applicable state or federal laws.' A final report summarizing titles deemed inappropriate and actions taken must be submitted to the Tennessee State Librarian and Archivist by January 19, 2026. Preceded by a September 2025 letter citing Trump EO 14168 and an October 27, 2025 letter specifically flagging 'Fred Gets Dressed' by Peter Brown. State statutes cited: Tennessee Age-Appropriate Materials Act (2022, as amended 2024 by HB 843) and Public Chapter 458 of 2025 ('Dismantling DEI Departments Act'). Federal authority cited: Executive Order 14168, 'Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government' (Jan 20, 2025). Rutherford County Library System board voted 2026-03-16 to relocate 16 titles in response; director Luanne James refused to comply and was fired by the board on 2026-03-30.
- Adopted
- —
- Effective
- Oct 31, 2025
- effective
Executive Order 14168 — Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government
President of the United States (Donald J. Trump) · United States
Executive order signed by President Donald Trump on January 20, 2025 (inauguration day of his second term). Directs federal departments and agencies to recognize sex as an immutable male-female binary determined at conception; to replace 'gender' with 'sex' across federal materials, forms, and communications; to cease federal funding for gender-affirming care and programs supporting transgender identities; to require sex-segregated facilities (bathrooms, prisons, shelters) to be designated by biological sex; and to rescind specified Department of Education guidance documents including 'Supporting Transgender Youth in School' (June 2021), 'Supporting Intersex Students' (October 2021), and the 'U.S. Department of Education Toolkit: Creating Inclusive and Nondiscriminatory School Environments for LGBTQI+ Students.' Cited by Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett's Oct 31 2025 letter as authority for requiring the 181 libraries in the Tennessee Regional Library System to review juvenile children's-section materials for compliance. Opening of Section 1 (Purpose): 'Across the country, ideologues who deny the biological reality of sex have increasingly used legal and other socially coercive means to permit men to self-identify as women and gain access to intimate single-sex spaces and activities designed for women, from women's domestic abuse shelters to women's workplace showers. This is wrong.'
- Adopted
- —
- Effective
- Jan 20, 2025
- effective
R277-628 — School Libraries
Utah State Board of Education · Utah
Administrative rule implementing HB 29 (Sensitive Material Review Amendments) and HB 374 (Sensitive Materials in Schools). Defines how school districts must process sensitive-material reviews, the 3-district threshold for statewide removal, appeal procedures, and the distinction between objective and subjective sensitive material. Passed August 7, 2024.
- Adopted
- Aug 7, 2024
- Effective
- Aug 7, 2024
- Implements
- Law #12
- effective
R277-628 — School Libraries
Utah State Board of Education · Utah
Administrative rule implementing HB 374 (Sensitive Materials in Schools) and HB 29. Defines sensitive-material definitions, review procedures, and district obligations under the combined statutory framework.
- Adopted
- Aug 7, 2024
- Effective
- Aug 7, 2024
- Implements
- Law #13
- effective
Anti-book-ban policy (June 2023) — Central York School District anti-book-ban policy — first in York County, PA
Central York School District Board of School Directors · Central York School District, PA
In June 2023 the Central York School District Board of School Directors passed a first-in-York-County anti-book-ban policy. The policy (a) returned the two books removed in March 2023 following Faith Casale's 2022-09 challenges ('Push' by Sapphire and 'A Court of Mist and Fury' by Sarah J. Maas) to library shelves; (b) established age-based categories for library book access; and (c) prohibited the banning of library books entirely going forward. The policy follows the district's Nov 2020 ban of roughly 300 diversity-resource-list materials (reversed Sep 2021 after student-and-community-led opposition) and the Sep 2022 Faith Casale re-challenge cycle. Date-effective uses 2023-06-15 as an estimate — accessible sources name 'June 2023' without a specific day. Coverage: York Dispatch, Bucks County Beacon, NCAC, EdWeek.
- Adopted
- —
- Effective
- Jun 15, 2023