2023–2026 · Brooke Stephens and Nicholeen Peck
Stephens asks lawmakers to change the rules.
Brooke Stephens, RatedBooks founder, asks about draft legislation and urges Republican lawmakers to support HB197. Nicholeen Peck, Utah state representative, sponsors the bill. Their earlier hearing appearances show how long both had been involved in school-materials proposals.
Support at hearings → A question about the draft → A request to lawmakers → Changes to the bill → The outcome
- 01
February 23, 2023
Stephens helps present HB464. Peck speaks in favor.
Ken Ivory, Utah state representative, introduces HB464 with Jennie Earl, then vice chair of the state school board; Andrea Ni, a Park City resident and mother; and Stephens, identified as education director for Utah Parents United. The minutes also list Peck speaking in favor. She is appearing as an advocacy-group president at this hearing.
Read the HB464 hearing minutes (opens in a new tab)Utah Legislature · February 23, 2023 · page 3
- 02
February 9, 2024
Stephens and Peck return for HB29.
Ivory presents HB29 with Stephens’s assistance. Peck speaks in favor as president of the Worldwide Organization for Women. Both have now appeared in the school-materials hearings in 2023 and 2024.
Read the HB29 hearing minutes (opens in a new tab)Utah Legislature · February 9, 2024 · page 3
- 03
December 24, 2025
Stephens asks whether the draft covers quiet removals.
At 7:14 a.m., Stephens emails Tyler Keetch about the School Materials Amendments draft. Peck and Micah Wixom are copied. Stephens asks whether schools would have to report books removed for a bright-line violation when no parent had filed a formal challenge.
Would this bill, how it’s currently worded, require schools to report books they quietly removed for breaking the brightline rule or can they still fail to report brightline violations because it wasn’t a formal parent challenge?
Read Stephens’s question about the draft (opens in a new tab)Email · December 24, 2025 · page 1
- 04
January 12, 2026
Stephens tells lawmakers why she wants Peck’s bill.
At 10:23 a.m., Stephens emails Republican lawmakers, including Ivory and Peck. She thanks Peck for running HB197 and connects four provisions to her own work: books about the founders, state distribution of flagged-book lists, schools reviewing their own collections, and a right for parents to sue. She attaches advocacy graphics and October 2025 correspondence with Davis School District.
Stephens says Davis declined to link her ratings because they came from private citizens. She says she asked state board members to share her monthly list, and only one reported doing so. She also says the state superintendent told her legislative authority was needed to share potential violations with schools. These are the reasons Stephens gives lawmakers in her email.
I'm so grateful to Representative Peck for running HB 197.
Read Stephens’s email to lawmakers (opens in a new tab)Email · January 12, 2026 · pages 1–2
Read Peck’s original HB197 proposal (opens in a new tab)January 2026 bill text · sponsor on page 1
- 05
February 9–12, 2026
The bill’s reviewer and selection provisions change.
A February 9 revision removes a provision requiring the state board to qualify an established book reviewer. A February 12 revision removes a longer selection-policy section, including AI-related language, and replaces it with a shorter requirement to review newly added materials before students can access them.
Compare the second and third versions (opens in a new tab)Official bill comparison · February 9, 2026
Compare the third and fourth versions (opens in a new tab)Official bill comparison · February 12, 2026
- 06
March 6, 2026
HB197 finishes the session without becoming law.
The Legislature’s final status places HB197 in the House file for bills not passed. The January proposal Stephens promoted had changed during the session, and the bill did not become law.
See HB197’s bill history (opens in a new tab)Utah Legislature · final action March 6, 2026