"Iowa libraries are slowly losing their local control, year by year," said Sam Helmick, president of the American Library Association.

Senate File 238 would halt certain state funding to public libraries from the Enrich Iowa Program if they are members of nationwide nonprofit organizations that promote federal and state legislation.

Legislators on an Iowa Senate subcommittee advanced a bill Tuesday that would remove exemptions to the state’s obscenity laws for libraries and schools, a move opponents say could open libraries up to lawsuits and would be logistically difficult for small libraries to protect against.