A great deal of bad legislation died when 15 more state legislatures adjourned in May, including bills in five states that would have removed all or large segments of public notice advertising from newspapers.
The most significant legislation to expire was a bill in Missouri that was close to passage and would have shifted foreclosure notices from newspapers to mortgage-trustee websites. Missouri House Bill 1651 and its Senate companion were both voted out of committee following hearings earlier this year, but neither got to the floor for a vote before the legislature packed it in for the year in mid-May.
Government Website Leaves Residents with Little Notice about Bee-Killing Zika Spray
Many residents in Dorchester County, South Carolina were upset by the lack of notice from government officials about a recent aerial insecticide spray that killed millions of honeybees, according to USA Today. The county sprayed naled, which is harmful to bees and other insects, in order to kill mosquitos that are known to carry Zika.
A local TV news station reported that many people said they had been notified by phone only 10 hours before the spray. County officials responded by noting that they had also posted a notice on the county website two days earlier.