Public Notice Legislation Draws Editorial Fire

By: Joe Strupp Legislation being proposed in South Dakota and Arizona that would allow local government entities to publish legal notices on their own Web sites instead of in newspapers has drawn editorial fire from several papers today.

The Yuma (Ariz.) Sun and The Tribune in Mesa, Ariz., both published editorials in the past two days opposing HR 2253, the state legislation that would allow the local Web posting. The proposal is set for a committee hearing today, the Yuma editorial stated.

"During these difficult economic times, governments and businesses are looking everywhere to save an extra dollar. But one item that shouldn't be on their agendas is cutting off the public's access to information," the Mesa editorial, reprinted today in the Arizona Daily Star in Tuscan, said. "An important way the public learns what these entities do is legal notices published in newspapers."

It added, "Local newspapers and their companion Web sites are critical bridges to information, with far more readers each day than Web sites hosted by any local government. The reason for publishing legal notices is to put the details of official acts into forums where people already gather to read. The Arizona Newspaper Association hosts a statewide database of legal notices."

The Yuma editorial said if the legislation is passed, it "would turn back a long-time requirement for government agencies to keep citizens informed about their actions ? The result would be that citizens would find it harder to track the activities of local government, especially if they do not have access to a computer or do not know where to look for the notices."? ?
In South Dakota, meanwhile, it is House Bill 1135 in the state legislature, also being reviewed this week, that sparked editorials by two local papers.

The Argus Leader in Sioux Falls declared in an editorial today: "When tax money is involved, there can never be enough transparency. What is the school district paying for snow removal? And to whom? What will it cost to repair the streets in your neighborhood?"

Adds the Rapid City Journal, "School boards and city governments might relish the thought of posting legal notices online and keeping the public?s business out of the newspaper, but the public should be concerned to give government bodies that kind of control. We need more availability to information, not less. And legal notices published in the newspapers is the best way that the public gets unfettered access to public information."

These are likely not the last states to consider such measures as local governments seek to cut costs and newspapers seek to hold on to the public notices, which for many are a major source of income.