US HB7691

Secretary of Education authorized to provide grants to local educational agencies to reimburse legal costs (attorneys' fees, court costs) when agencies defend decisions to keep instructional or library materials available after challenges from parents or others

Maximum grant amount is $100,000 per determination to retain a challenged book or instructional material

Eligible agencies must have legal responsibility to select materials, provide a process for resolving objections, and participate in appeals when parents disagree with decisions not to remove materials

Grant awards must be based on content-neutral and viewpoint-neutral criteria, without considering the specific content of the challenged materials

Authorizes $15,000,000 total for fiscal years 2027 through 2031 to fund the program