Legislation that would move all or most public notice in three states to government websites passed significant milestones last month. Bills in Indiana and Kentucky were approved by the Houses of Representatives in those states by comfortable margins, while another in Idaho’s lower chamber barely squeaked by.
The most significant threat to newspaper notice appears to be the assault launched in Indiana, where HB-1312 would eventually allow all public and private notices in the state to be posted on a website established by the Indiana Office of Technology (IOT). It passed the House on Feb. 18 by a 57-36 vote.
California governor vetoes public notice bill
California Governor Gavin Newsom this weekend vetoed a public notice bill that was supported by the California Newspaper Publishers Association (CNPA) and passed both houses of the legislature by wide margins. Like legislation that has already been approved in 20 other states, Assembly Bill 2095 would have required official newspapers to ensure that notices published in their print editions would also be posted free of charge on their own website and on their press associations’ statewide public notice site.
In a statement issued Saturday, Newsom said he vetoed AB-2095 because he was concerned it “may require the state’s small community newspapers to hire additional personnel to upload notices and/or to pay for software tools to manage these uploads