House committee tables public notices bill

By Wesley Brown

On the busiest day since the start of the 95th General Assembly, House lawmakers yesterday tabled a bill that would allow specific public notices to be posted on a so-called “third party” website rather than newspapers.

Following more than 90 minutes of testimony, House Bill 1399 by Rep. Frances Cavenaugh, R-Walnut Ridge, was pulled down in the House City, County and Local Affairs Committee following a request for a fiscal impact statement by the state Bureau of Legislative Research (BLR). Several APA members spoke against the 12-page proposal during a special order of business held before a standing-room-only crowd at the State Capitol’s “Big Mac” meeting room.

If approved, HB 1399 would amend a requirement that local and county governments publish a large batch of public notices in newspapers and instead allow them to be posted online on a “thirdparty website. More specifically, it would impact public notices regarding elections, initiated acts and petitions, delinquent tax lists, forfeited property and licensing ordinances.

In introducing her amended bill, first filed on Feb. 9, Cavanaugh said that HB 1399 would not mandate city and county officials to publish their legal notices on non-governmental third-party websites instead of newspapers. Instead, she said, they would be given the choice to do so. APA opposes this statement.

“They will not be required to post them in a newspaper, but they can still choose to do so,” Cavenaugh testified in response to questions about her proposal. “This gives them the option of going to a website if that is what is best for their county or city.”

APA opposes this statement as well. A close reading of the amended bill shows that only categories of public notices with the either/or publication option are bylaws and ordinances of a general or permanent nature and those imposing a fine, penalty or forfeiture, and the annual publication of a municipality’s financial statement. Election notices, amendments to existing ordinances, some general ordinances and the annual delinquent tax lists are removed from newspapers to a website under the bill.

The northeast Arkansas lawmaker explained that she brought HB 1399 before the legislature because news and information delivery has moved into the digital age.

“What worked in the 19th and 20th centuries doesn’t work in the 21st century anymore,” said Cavenaugh. “We are in a transition period on how people receive their information and news. More and more people receive it digitally than through print, and it happens more every day.”

“The majority of Arkansas newspapers, where there is broadband access, have already begun offering a digital format over the last decade,” said APA Executive Director Ashley Kemp Wimberley. “Rep. Cavenaugh is overlooking the fact that legal advertising is already delivered to readers in these digital editions, the same as they are in print.”

In responding to several questions from committee members, Cavenaugh did not have any data on the startup costs for transferring the public notice business from newspapers to third-party websites. Rep. Carol Darby, R-Texarkana, asked the bill sponsor for a fiscal impact statement, noting there needed to be more clarity on that provision.

“This is going to cost the state some money, and I think we need to find out … if this is going to be a million-dollar hit to the state or five dollars. I think that is a legitimate question,” said Darby.

Under Cavenaugh’s five-year, phasein approach, cities and counties could begin posting notices regarding financial statements and budgets on a third-party website on Jan. 1, 2024. A year later, they could post ordinances on this online site.