Some local government units in Oregon are publishing notices on local news websites in lieu of official newspapers, according to announcements on those sites and official statements made by some of the governments.

The Philomath News, Salem Reporter and YachatsNews have reported that local governments in the counties in which they publish are running notices on their sites. Most, if not all, of those notices are being published exclusively on those websites and are not also being published in a local newspaper.

The governments are publishing notices on local news websites despite what the Yachats News calls “unclear language” in legislation passed last year that allows notices to be published in “an online newspaper delivered in an electronic form that is formatted similarly to a printed newspaper and produced in an archivable format.” When it was approved by the state legislature in June 2023, the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association, which supported the bill, didn’t consider HB-3167 to be ambiguous. ONPA (along with PNRC and Ashland.news) understood the bill to allow the publication of notices in newspaper e-editions in lieu of their printed editions, not on local news websites.

HB-3167 was initially introduced after the Medford Mail Tribune was abruptly shuttered in January 2023 and the city of Ashland appeared to have been left without a suitable alternative in which to publish its notices. In addition to authorizing e-editions, the new law amended the requirement in the state’s public notice statute that qualifying publications have “bona fide subscribers representing more than half of (their) total distribution.” HB-3167 waived that requirement for a period of up to 12 months if a paper closes and a jurisdiction finds itself in the same position as Ashland — i.e., without a suitable paper in which to publish its notices.

None of the websites that are publishing notices distribute e-editions as that term is generally understood in the news business — i.e., a replica of a printed newspaper delivered as a PDF or via other digital publishing software. And although all three sites solicit voluntary contributions from their readers, only the Salem Reporter has a paywall and sells subscriptions. All of the sites are based in counties that still have local newspapers that qualify to publish notices.

The first local government in Oregon to move its notices to a local news website appears to have been the city of Philomath, a small municipality (pop. 5,838) two miles outside the college town of Corvallis. Philomath News reported in November 2023 that it had been “designated as the newspaper of record for the city of Philomath for the purpose of publishing public notice.”

According to an email from Philomath News Editor/Publisher Brad Fuqua included in the January 8, 2024 board meeting packet of the Philomath Fire & Rescue Board of Directors, the city made his website the “newspaper of record … based on the city attorney’s opinion that (the decision to do so would be) defendable if challenged.”

That legal opinion appears not to even have considered the e-edition issue. According to Fuqua’s description of the opinion, “(t)he possible hangup involved the law’s requirements for ‘bona fide subscribers.’” Moreover, his description of the city attorney’s analysis of the subscriber issue suggests that now-retired official may have misunderstood that part of the statute.

Fuqua had written to the Fire & Rescue Board because it was considering whether to follow the city’s lead and move the special district’s notices from Lee Enterprise’s Corvallis Gazette-Times to his local news website. In his email, Fuqua warned the board: “I have not consulted with an attorney … If the fire district comes to the same conclusion as the city on the interpretation of the revised statute and it ends up being challenged legally, I wouldn’t be held liable. It would be the fire district’s decision.”

The Fire & Rescue Board decided not to move its notices after hearing from the Special District Association of Oregon, which concluded that, “The Philomath News does not appear to qualify due to the bona fide subscribers issue. … In black & white terms that means this digital news source doesn’t meet the qualifications.”

Philomath Councillor and mayoral candidate Christopher McMorran told his colleagues about the decision at the City Council meeting held later the same day.

“Today the Fire Board decided not to go with the Philomath News as their exclusive distributor for public notices because their attorney had a different view than ours,” McMorran said with a chuckle. “They basically are going to wait and see if we get sued and then as long as we don’t get sued they’ll stop (publishing notices) in the Gazette-Times eventually.”

Seven months after that meeting, the City of Salem announced it was moving its notices to the Salem Reporter’s local news website to “save money.” The capital city’s official newspaper had been Gannett’s Statesman-Journal.

A couple of weeks later YachatsNews reported, “Several local governments in Lincoln County have already moved some or all of their public notices to YachatsNews,” including two small cities, a fire department, a water utility and a community college. It isn’t clear whether these Lincoln County notices are not also being published in a local newspaper.

YachatsNews also reported that the Oregon legislature “is expected to take up the issue again (in its 2025 session) and hopefully clear up any lingering questions.”

All three local news websites are owned and operated by veteran journalists. The sites are all robust and appear to be journalistically sound.