Winter Institute The Advocacy team will be at Winter Institute! Find us at the Ask Advocacy desk (hours listed in the program) to talk about: - Book bans
- Content-based challenges in your store
- The Credit Card Competition Act
- Frivolous lawsuits targeting bookstores
- State and federal legislation impacting free expression and small business
- Anything your heart desires
In addition to the Ask Advocacy desk, ABFE will be offering the following programming on free expression challenges: - “Content-Based Attacks on Stores,” Tuesday, February 25, at 9:30 am in Governor's Square 11
- “Speak Out! Legislative Activism 101,” Wednesday February 26, at 9:30 am in Governor's Square 11
- In-person free expression strategy meeting for Texas booksellers, Tuesday, February 25, at 5:15 pm in Director’s Row H
Small Business Legislation Illinois booksellers, we are urging you to reach out to your state lawmakers in support of Illinois SB 1942, a bill we believe will put a halt to meritless ADA website compliance lawsuits. Many small businesses have been targeted by frivolous lawsuits alleging ADA non-compliance of their websites. Meaningful accessibility on websites is crucially important, of course, but these lawsuits take advantage of unclear guidelines, exploit people with disabilities for the benefit of unscrupulous law firms, and muddy the waters for cases with actual merit — all without doing anything to improve website accessibility. SB 1942 would provide businesses with 90 days to address any website compliance issues and a 180-day grace period before a lawsuit can be filed. New York State booksellers, urge your state lawmakers to support SB 3433, a bill that would create the “New York First—Shop Local Program,” which would look to promote local businesses throughout the state. NY SB 3433 would promote local businesses through a grant program. These grants, up to $10,000 per project, could be used for various marketing and business assistance initiatives. Executive Orders Impacting Books in Public Schools The Trump Administration’s executive orders targeting free expression in schools have caused swaths of library books in schools administered by the Department of Defense to be removed for “compliance review” under suspicion of being “potentially related to gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology topics.” If you have been impacted by these removals or other executive orders related to public schools, the National Education Association is collecting stories. |
