January 12, 2024 |
Photo – Public Notices in a newspaper – Courtesy istockphoto.com
Thanks to 19th century politics, when politicians and newspapers did each other favors, print media cornered the market on classified advertising paid for by government offices. It’s been a lucrative business for print media.
New legislation being teed-up in Cheyenne for the upcoming legislation could upturn old Wyoming’s laws regulating where and how local governments would be required to post public notices. If passed, the change would be a boon to cash-strapped local governments.
Wyoming’s public records law mandates that all legally required governmental public notices must be printed in a local newspaper of record. Radio and television stations need not apply. New legislation to be considered in the upcoming session would change the requirement by creating a centralized electronic notice system in Wyoming that would be maintained by the Secretary of State’s office.
Public notices would become part of a statewide online database. Bill sponsor state Rep. Daniel Singh of Cheyenne said the bill’s purpose is to save local governments money and put the message in front of more people.
Local governments could also advertise the notices locally if they choose.
The legislation recognizes that contemporary technology, and the declining readership of print newspapers, has altered the social landscape and mission of printing public notices, which is to get the most people seeing them as easily –and as cheaply—as possible.
“Our statutes were written in an age when our media relied so heavily on newspapers,” Singh said.
Times have changed. So have the information gathering habits of Americans.
Under the bill, local governments would have the option until 2030 of posting their public notices for free to the state database instead of paying to have them printed in a local newspaper. Starting in 2030, local governments would then be required to post notices in the state database regardless of whether they also print them in a local newspaper.
Publishing to the database would be free, and so would be the public’s access to it—unlike the costs associated with newspapers.
Under the legislation, governments would be required to follow the same time deadlines in publishing to the database as currently exist for printing in newspapers.
Singh said Secretary of State Chuck Gray and the Wyoming Association of Municipalities assisted him with drafting the bill.
Representative Sing said the current law is founded on the practice of “picking favorites in the media industry.”
