WDEL’s Rick Jensen Claims About “X-Rated Books” — What Does the Delaware Law Actually Say

I may be one of the few people who still listens to live radio, especially Delaware news, but I heard something on WDEL’s Rick Jensen show that made me pause.

The Rick Jensen described Delaware’s recent “book ban” law as something that makes it harder to remove X-rated books from schools. That didn’t sound accurate to me, so I looked into it.

Delaware passed the Freedom to Read Act (HB 119), which was signed into law by Governor Matt Meyer in September 2025. It isn’t a “book ban” in the traditional sense. Instead, it establishes a statewide process for challenging books in public and school libraries and prevents books from being removed solely for political, religious, or ideological reasons.

From what I can tell, it does not require schools to keep age-inappropriate or explicit material. Schools can still evaluate materials under established educational and age-appropriateness standards. The law mainly focuses on preventing broad or politically motivated removals without review.

If anyone has additional insight into how the law is being applied in practice, I’d genuinely like to understand more.