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Election Countdown

Library Issues

Measures A & B, 2025

Measure A: Censorship

In October 2023, the Huntington Beach City Council passed Resolution No. 2023-41, calling for the review of library materials containing sexual content and restricting minors’ access to these materials. The City’s Ordinance established a 21-member community review board with unappealable power to impose a censorial process over the library collection. Books, primarily covering puberty, the human body, and LGBTQ+ issues, were moved to a youth-restricted books section on the Central Library’s fourth floor, requiring an adult library card or special youth card to check out.

The City held multiple meetings at which hundreds of speakers objected to the proposed censorship, and the Ordinance was adopted despite hundreds of resident communications rejecting the review board.

In answer to the residents’ outcry against the review board, ProtectHB, in April 2024, initiated a ballot process to force the censorship issue to go to a vote of Huntington Beach’s citizens. By October 2024, ProtectHB was successful in gathering the necessary petition signatures, and Measure A was certified for an upcoming election. The text of Measure A from the OC Vote is attached on our Resources page here.

The special election was held on June 2, 2025, and Measure A received 34,797 votes in favor of rescinding Resolution No. 2023-41 and disbanding the review board. By a margin of 16.8 %, the Yes votes were successful.

However, it wasn’t long before it became clear that the City failed to promptly relocate the restricted books back to the Children’s and Young Adult sections of the Library. In February 2025, three Huntington Beach residents, led by our City Council candidate Erin Spivey, along with Alianza TranslatinX, a trans-led OC nonprofit, sued the City. The suit alleged that the City violated the California Freedom to Read Act (AB 1825) as well as the California Constitution’s right to access information.

The residents and the nonprofit organization prevailed in the trial court in September 2025; however, the City Council voted to appeal the decision in April 2026.

Then, on April 29, 2026, Orange County Superior Court Judge Lindsey Martinez ordered the City of Huntington Beach to pay nearly $1 million in legal fees, losing the pro-bono legal counsel they’d been granted from America First in their pursuit of this issue. This win for intellectual freedom comes at a high cost for a city that claims to be stretched thin in its budget already… and in the meantime, the library, still recovering after losing much of its full-time staff during the previous years’ turmoil, continues to process the remaining restricted books to return them to their initial shelves.

Measure B: Outsourcing

The City of Huntington Beach’s voters overwhelmingly voted YES to Measure B in the June 10, 2025, special election.

Measure B mandates that no public library owned or operated by the City may be sold, leased, exchanged, transferred, or disposed of, nor may library services be operated or managed by a private contractor, unless the City declares a fiscal emergency or a majority of voters approve such a change at a general or special election. The text of Measure B from OC Vote is attached on our Resources page here. It passed with 60.5 % of voters approving the restriction, and a successful margin of 21% with 36,044 votes in favor.

In Spring 2024, the City was approached by Library Systems & Services (LS&S), a company owned by a private hedge fund. LS&S claimed it could save the City $1 million per year by privatizing the management of the City’s libraries.

The City’s residents, librarians, and property owners generally disapproved of this effort, but the City proceeded to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP). LS&S was the sole responding company. On the day of the City Council meeting at which the City Council was to vote to accept or reject the response, LS&S withdrew its proposal with no explanation.

Despite the fact that the RFP was not approved, ProtectHB and other organizations decided to proceed with a ballot measure to prohibit the privatization of the management of any City library.

Even though the Council stated there was never any intention to privatize the libraries, it refused to accept Measure B as proposed. As a result, ProtectHB worked to obtain the necessary signatures to place the Measure on a Special Election. In November 2024, it was determined that sufficient signatures were gathered, resulting in Measure B being placed on the June 10, 2025, Special Election.

City Council members claimed that approval of Measure B would limit any future City Council’s ability to properly manage the City’s budget, as well as manage the libraries. Despite the Council’s statements that there was never any intention of privatizing the libraries, it refused to accept Measure B as proposed.

The residents in favor of Measure B argued that it ensured residents have the final say over their libraries and keep them public. They wrote in ballot arguments: “Our public libraries are not for sale” and that libraries “benefit every resident, are a resource to our entire community, and must remain public and available to all.”

ProtectHB was instrumental in obtaining the necessary number of residents’ signatures in order to get Measure B on the ballot. Once the requisite number of signatures was obtained, ProtectHB, along with other organizations, focused on getting out the vote in favor of Measure B.