The Illinois state government has passed a new bill that will withhold funding from public schools and libraries if they ban books.

Public libraries and schools in the state are granted $62 million in funding, which HB 2789 will prevent them from receiving unless the institutions “adopt the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights” or “develop a written statement prohibiting the practice of banning books or other materials within the library or library system.“

Alexi Giannoulias, Illinois’ Secretary of State, drafted the bill after 67 book bans were attempted in the state. Giannoulias told Politico that he was "blown away" that "blatant and so dangerous" efforts to ban books were happening today.

“All these efforts to curb reading materials have absolutely nothing to do with books. They are about restricting the freedom of ideas that certain individuals disagree with and that certain individuals think others should have access to,” he said.

Now, the material in public institutions will be determined by librarians, who Giannoulias said “have the educational and professional experience to determine what’s in circulation.”

The bill is the first of its kind in the country, and comes amidst efforts in other states to ban books, sometimes hundreds at once. The issue has been particularly prominent in Florida, where in some districts libraries have been emptied to undergo content review by the Republican-controlled state legislature.

Book bans were implemented in record numbers in 2022, and continue to climb in 2023. The most-banned book of last year was Maia Kobabe’s graphic novel Gender Queer.

Illinois Democratic Governor JB Pritzker voiced his support for the state's anti-book ban bill when it was first presented, saying: “In Illinois, we don’t hide from the truth, we embrace it and lead with it. Banning books is a devastating attempt to erase our history and the authentic stories of many.”