By Howard Fischer
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PHOENIX – Gov. Katie Hobbs has vetoed a Queen Creek legislator’s bill, saying it was an effort to ban books, but Sen. Jake Hoffman called her decision this week “absolutely sickening.”

Hoffman’s proposal dealt with two issues.

Part of what is behind the bill was an incident last year involving a teacher at Thunderbolt Middle School in Lake Havasu City who, with her husband, a fourth-grade teacher at another school, were discovered filming obscene videos in her classroom and posting them, for money, on a social media site.

An email to parents from the school acknowledged that some students found the video online but said it had not been taped during the school day.

Hoffman's bill sought to make it illegal to film or facilitate "sexually explicit acts'' at any facility or property owned or leased by a public entity. And the measure goes into detail exactly what that includes.

That part of the legislation appeared to have little opposition.

What did draw concerns was the other half, which said no state or local agency is allowed to expose minors to sexually explicit materials.

"I'm reading this, and I'm wondering, does this include a library that has a book with any sexual situation, even if it was in the adult section just because a child could potentially find it on the shelf?'' Sen. Priya Sundareshan, D-Tucson, asked.

"It absolutely does include that,'' Hoffman responded. And he said he sees no reason not to combine both topics within the same legislation.

But Hoffman, in his criticism of the veto, focused almost exclusively on what happened at the Lake Havasu City school - and not the governor's comment about him using that as an excuse to keep certain books away from children.

"It's absolutely sickening that Katie Hobbs is allowing pornography to be filmed in our state's taxpayer funded classrooms,'' he said.

"These should be safe spaces for our kids to learn in, not venues for the sexually explicit adult entertainment industry,'' Hoffman continued. "No 12-year-old child should ever have to worry that their middle school desk was the location of a porn shoot.''

But the testimony on the bill - and the objections - were focused not on the filming but the effect of the other section on what materials should be available to children.

Elijah Watson, who has testified on his own behalf on similar issues, said he understands the desire to protect children from sexually explicit materials. But he called the legislation "dangerously broad,'' failing to provide adequate assumptions.

Consider, he said, examples of literature like "Beloved'' by Toni Morrison which include memories of sexual abuse and exploitation. Then there's "The Great Gatsby'' with homoerotic language, and "Of Mice and Men,'' which uses vulgarity and racist language.

And Watson said violations carry a presumptive term of 1.5 years in state prison, something he said should not be imposed on teachers for assigning a book.

Hoffman, however, pointed out that lawmakers actually approved a similar measure last year that already makes it illegal to have sexually explicit materials in schools. What this legislation sought to do, he said, was extend that to all other levels of government and their contractors, including libraries.

Hobbs, for her part, said all that goes too far.

"While I agree that not all content is appropriate for minors, this bill is a poor way to address those concerns,'' she said he her veto message. And the governor took issue with Hoffman for trying to tie the issue of an incident at Lake Havasu City to further restricting access to reading materials.

"The sponsor has stated that this bill was aimed at preventing a specific action from reoccurring, while in reality it is written in such a vague manner than it serves as little more than a thinly veiled effort to ban books,'' Hobbs wrote.