Earlier the same week he visited the White House as part of Donald Trump’s ongoing effort to overturn the results of the presidential election, Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering (pictured at left) saw members of his caucus introduce a legislative package he hopes is the capstone of his half-decade project to move public notice in the state from newspapers to government websites.
It’s an unusual package of 105 separate bills that eliminate particular government notices — e.g., local government meetings, publication of new ordinances, etc. — spread throughout the state’s code. The bills are “tie-barred” to a single proposal, House Bill 6440, designed to serve as Michigan’s new general public notice statute. The tie-barred bills will only take effect if HB6440 passes.
The danger of suspending publication during the COVID-19 crisis
The town of Glastonbury, Connecticut announced last week it would begin publishing public notices on its website in lieu of the newspaper notice normally required by law, according to Manchester’s Journal Inquirer. In its statement, Glastonbury cited an emergency order issued on March 21 by Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) that “suspended and modified” the state’s public notice laws to allow notices “to be published electronically on a municipality’s or agency’s website”.
Michigan Press Scores Points in Debate Over ‘Online-only’ Bill
The Michigan Press Association defended itself well in a story over Michigan House Bill 4183, which would require that public notices be published solely online. The bill was postponed on June 18 and has not been taken up since.
Crain’s Detroit Business examined the bill – and how it would affect newspapers and other media sources in the state – in a well-balanced July 5 story. Among other things, the story noted that the bill’s opponents cite “a large swath of the state without reliable Internet or cellphone service” and that “some townships and small cities, especially in rural areas, have rudimentary websites and older populations that still rely on newspapers for information.”