3 5
Appeals Court rules against school district in FOIA case Guest Column: Into the Issues by Al Cross
ARKANSAS
Ar kansas
PRESS
Publisher Weekly
Vol. 14 | No. 16 | Thursday, April 18, 2019
ASSOCIATION
Serving Press and State Since 1873
Act 1075 protects newspaper public notices Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed into law this week one of the newspaper industry’s most critical items of legislation to emerge from the 2019 General Assembly, a bill ensuring newspapers remain the principal source for public notices.
construction trade journals, they may do so.
Act 1075 establishes that Arkansas’s cities, counties and public school districts must use newspaper public notices when soliciting competitive bids for construction projects. The Act, which originated as Senate Bill 409 by Sen. Scott Flippo, R-Mountain Home, as initially drafted would have made newspaper publication an option for such notices along with websites and construction trade journals.
“For transparency and for wide readership, newspapers have been and continue to be the best place to disseminate public notices,” said Ashley Wimberley, executive director of the Arkansas Press Association. “We conveyed that message week after week to the Legislature and to entities that support local governments, and were successful in working toward legislation that actually strengthens current law and enhances transparency in our state.” Before Act 1075, cities, counties and schools could place construction-bid notices in either a newspaper or a trade journal. The new law eliminates a choice between newspapers and trade journals. Instead, the act specifies that “the county, municipality, school district or other local taxing unit shall have first published notice of its intention to receive bids one time each week for not less than two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county
The compromise final bill eliminates the choice of the three, thus requiring cities, counties and schools to publish bid notices for at least two consecutive weeks in newspapers. If the entities would like to also post the notices on websites or in
Continued on Page 2
Nominee selected for APA board of directors annual election This is the first of three required publications naming the nominee to fill a vacant position on the Arkansas Press Association Board of Directors.
The nominee is Jennifer Allen, publisher of the Pine Bluff Commercial.
The nominee was chosen in March by the nominating committee and validated by the Board of Directors at its annual spring meeting earlier this month at the APA Headquarters in Little Rock. The nominating committee is comprised of the immediate past president, one sitting APA board member, and two at-large members. Those roles were filled this year by Byron Tate, Tom White, Britt Talent and Patti Sanders.
Allen’s name, along with the names of four other current board members, will appear on the ballot in APA’s annual election to be held in May. The first publication of the nominee opens a Jennifer Allen two-week window for at-large nominations.
A letter of recommendation from three APA newspapers in good standing is required for an at-large nomination. That period will expire on May 2. Designated voter letters will be mailed later this month, and the ballots for the annual APA election will be mailed in mid-May. The newly elected APA board member will assume their respective seat on the board at the conclusion of the annual APA Convention to be held on June 26-29 in Hot Springs.