Texas Bookstore Bounty Bill: Floor Vote Thursday HB 1375 is a bookstore “bounty” bill that would allow someone to file a civil suit against a commercial entity if they believe a minor was harmed by content that commercial entity was involved in making, distributing, or displaying. After the amazing testimony of booksellers in committee, the bill was amended to make some improvements — allowing prevailing defendants to recover legal fees — but it’s not enough to negate the harm it would do. Texans: please write to your representatives about this bill! US/China Tariff Agreement The US and China reached an agreement to reduce tariffs for at least 90 days. The tariffs on Chinese products will drop from a minimum of 145% to a baseline of 30%. Chinese tariffs on American goods will drop from a minimum of 125% to 10%. At this time, books are still excluded from these tariffs, though related materials like paper and ink may be affected. Many sidelines are also likely to be subject to these tariffs. New Hampshire: Bookseller Op-Ed Thank you to Michael Herrmann of Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord, New Hampshire, for lending your voice to the fight against New Hampshire’s book ban bills, HB 324 and SB 33. Michael had an op-ed in the Union Leader explaining the harm the bill would do. If you are interested in penning an op-ed about book ban bills or anything else related to book advocacy, you can reach out to [email protected] for guidance. Please Respond to Important TikTok Survey We need to know how you use TikTok in your business to help us with our advocacy efforts. Please take a moment to answer our TikTok Survey. This survey is critically important to our efforts so please take a moment to respond. For those of you who already submitted answers, thank you! ABA Joins Letter Urging Robust Antitrust Funding This week, ABA joined with a number of associations in urging robust funding for the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Competition Mission and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division. In a letter, the groups note the importance of ensuring the agencies have enough resources to fulfill their missions after Congress cut their funding in prior years. The groups note: “The current funding for the Antitrust Division and the FTC is not enough for them to deal with increasingly complex and resource-intensive enforcement actions against some of the largest and most powerful companies in the world.” |
