Municipality groups and the press both say the legislation is a fair compromise.

By Trevor Brown
tbrown@wyomingnews.com

CHEYENNE -- A pair of proposed bills would push more public notices onto the Internet and reduce the frequency with which some appear in local newspapers.

A legislative committee has voted to sponsor two proposals that change what cities, towns and counties have to publish in newspapers.

State law requires localities to pay thousands of dollars a year to print a variety of legal notices and public records in their area newspapers. These include salary listings, notices of public meetings, requests for contract bids, zoning changes and other information.

The proposed legislation, which was approved by a legislative committee last week, would reduce the frequency of when some of these records have to appear in print.

For example, one of the bills would require counties to publish annual budget statements once a year instead of twice.

Another would require the name, position and monthly salary of each full-time county worker to be published once a year.

That latter provision would be a change from the current requirement. It says counties must publish one listing a year that includes position and salaries for most workers and two listings a year that includes the position and salary.

But the bills would add new requirements for local governments to post many of these public records on their websites.

Media and local government groups developed the bills during negotiations over the past few months.

Their proposals were accepted without major changes by the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Interim Committee. It agreed to sponsor the bills for the 2014 legislative session that begins in February.

Both representatives from media and local government groups said they reached compromises they can support.

Washakie County Commissioner Ron Harvey is vice president of the Wyoming County Commissioners Association.

He said the bills reduce some of the burdens for localities while allowing for more openness in government.

“It is going to give the public the ability to have more access to the public information with the counties publishing (the notices) online,” he said. “All 23 counties have websites now, so we think this is a more simple and more transparent process.”

He added that it would also save money for local governments. He couldn’t give an estimate, but he said it shouldn’t be a substantial hit on the revenues of the state’s papers.

The state’s 23 counties spent $713,765 on public notice publishing in fiscal year 2012, according to a report from the Legislative Service Office.

The costs range from Laramie County’s $83,445 to Platte County’s $8,099.

“We realized it was kind of a no-win situation for the newspapers, and it certainly wasn’t our intention to break their budgets,” Harvey said.

“We are just trying to find a better way of dealing with public records, and I think the Wyoming Press Association really realized that and stepped up (during the negotiations).”

Jim Angell, executive director of the newspaper group, agreed that the bills represent a “step forward.”

He said papers can relate to the budget crunches that many local governments are experiencing.

And he added that the proposals help ease some of the burdensome and unnecessary publishing requirements without sacrificing the public’s access to the notices.

“We took what we saw as the low-hanging fruit,” he said. “It was a good and valuable exercise.”

He said the bills do not amount to major changes and most of the valuable information still needs to be in newspapers.

He said he has proof that newspapers remain the best way for the public to see the information.

“Even in this day and age, more people use newspapers than Internet for their news,” he said. “So this is still the best place for it.”

Sen. Wayne Johnson, R-Cheyenne, said he and the other members of the committee also felt it is a fair compromise.

He said the bills achieve both the goals of removing outdated policies and maintaining, and even improving, the public’s access to the notices.

“The problem is, not everyone is computer literate or interested in going to the Web to find this information,” Johnson said. “But not everyone also subscribes to the newspapers.

“So this is helping us get the most coverage for the (notices).”

What's next?

Two bills that would push more public notices onto the Internet and reduce the frequency with which some items appear in local newspapers will be sponsored by the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Interim Committee. They are expected to be filed for the 2014 legislative session, which begins Feb. 10.