Once again this year, the Legislature is considering legislation that would give local governments the option to post public notices on a website instead of publishing those notices in newspapers. If passed into law, this would be a move away from government transparency and, in some cases, could end up being more expensive to taxpayers.
Current law requires local governments to post public notices in local newspapers. These public notice laws apply to many important public actions including setting budgets, issuing bonds, requesting bids, unclaimed property and court decisions. When the city or county sends a newspaper a public notice, the newspaper has certain responsibilities to run the notice on particular days and prove it has run with a signed affidavit. For decades, this practice has created a permanent paper trail, has helped hold local officials accountable and has helped inform citizens about the actions of their government.
One proposed bill, SB-2606, would dismantle all of those advantages and allow local governments to instead post notices on government-maintained websites in a way that can be seen by the public for three weeks. There is no requirement to maintain an archive or permanent record of public notices, which is another advantage of newspapers: You can always go back and find a notice.
In Mississippi, public notices are not big money-makers for newspapers. Current law caps what a paper can charge for public notices.
Should notices be published online in addition to in print? Absolutely.
In fact, in addition to publishing public notices in print, newspapers across the state already publish notices online. For more than a decade, the Mississippi Press Association has paid to maintain an online searchable database of public notices. This database, which can be found by Googling “Mississippi public notices,” is completely free to the public. Members of the public can even set up alerts for certain types of notices.
By publishing public notices in print and online, newspapers help place this important information in front of a large audience. A 2016 statewide survey found seven out of 10 Mississippians read a newspaper in a typical week. There are countless stories of people and businesses “stumbling over” an important public notice while browsing the paper. We think it is unlikely the public will make a point to occasionally visit multiple government-run websites to review public notices.
We encourage state lawmakers to support government transparency by rejecting this bill.
— The Commercial Dispatch, Columbus, Miss.
