(Courtesy of the Kentucky Press Association)
The Kentucky House of Representatives has before it House Bill 368 that could change the process of notifying the public what its local city government is doing. HB 368 is sponsored by Rep. Jennifer Decker, R-Shelbyville, and if approved by the General Assembly, would mean all cities in the state could put public notices on their own government-owned website.
Co-sponsors include Rep. Callaway, Bullitt, Jefferson; Rep. Freeland, Lyon, Marshall, McCracken; Rep. Gooch, Crittenden, McLean, Union, Webster; Rep. Imes, Calloway, Trigg; Rep. DJ Johnson, Daviess; Rep. King, Jessamine, Mercer, Washington; Rep. Lehman, Campbell; Rep. Lockett, Fayette, Jessamine.
Public Notices in local newspapers are vital to the proper functioning of democratic government. The public won’t see public notices if they don’t have a computer, and large segments of society lack the financial means to purchase a computer. The government has a fundamental responsibility to ensure adequate notification to the public of its actions. That responsibility cannot be abandoned in favor of cost savings that may prove to be elusive in light of a decrease in effective public notice.
Allowing government officials to post legal ads takes away third-party neutral interest, and removes any independent proof of publication.
Furthermore, placing the responsibility of notifying the public in the hands of government officials carries with it a potential for abuse. For example, it may create the temptation to change or manipulate the timing of public notices.
Newspapers are a more effective medium by which to reach the public.
The majority of public notices now arrive at citizens’ homes or businesses on a regular schedule and in a context that compels readership (amid local news, features, and other important information).
With an online format, guaranteeing or measuring readership is very difficult, as opposed to newspapers, which are required to demonstrate readership by providing records of paid subscribers, maintaining postal permits, or submitting to outside subscription audits.
Local newspapers have become the traditional medium for public notices and this is exactly where the public expects to find them. (In fact, some commercial services, such as those serving the construction industry, actually mine public notices, and then pass on valuable information via email notification lists.)
An Internet site can appear only on one computer, to one reader at a time. On the other hand, a newspaper can be read and passed along to other readers.
If the issue for the legislature is only to make notices available on the internet, the Kentucky Press Association and its member newspapers took care of that in 2012. Since then, every public notice published in a Kentucky newspaper has been placed on www.kypublicnotice.com at no additional cost to taxpayers. And those notices are never taken down.
Local governments will argue it is expensive to publish notices in the local newspaper but a study by the Legislative Research Commission shows that cost is minimal. In fact, only about 0.16 percent of a public agency’s budget is spent on putting notices in newspapers. That’s about $16 for every $10,000 the local government spends, to quote the LRC’s own study on the cost of public notices.
The stability of newspapers as a medium for public notices is unquestionable because it is in print. The Internet, on the other hand, remains highly vulnerable and unstable. Power surges, computer problems and downed servers can prevent access at any given time.
Government agencies cannot ensure that information located on a server is secure. Due to the presence of hackers, Internet legal ads are open to alteration. Printed legal ads provide a record of public notices that cannot be altered.
Interested parties cannot prove that they were properly notified of an impending action. On the other hand, newspapers provide sworn affidavits that ads were published along with physical tearsheets of the ad as printed.
Contact your State Representative and encourage defeat of House Bill 368 if it’s brought up for a vote. You can leave a message for your Representative by calling 800-372-7181.
