Under Kansas Senate Bill 56, which passed 26-14 this week, school teachers who give students "harmful material" can be criminally prosecuted.

Kansas Rep. Joseph Scapa (GOP/Wichita) has characterized books by Nobel prize winner Toni Morrison as pornography.

Democrats had planned to fight the bill Tuesday when it was up for debate, but because of confusion and the absence of a few key members from the Senate chamber, – one of whom was in the bathroom – no Democrat spoke against the bill or posed questions about when it could be amended. Sen. Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, made light of this during debate on another bill on Wednesday and asked the Democrats whether they needed to clear the bathrooms before the debate could proceed.

Kansas Senate passes bill easing prosecution of teachers for distributing 'harmful material' [Bryan Lowry/Kansas City Star]

(Image: Book burning, ryan junell, CC-BY-SA)