There aren’t a lot of legal provisions enacted in 1789 still on the books today. But the ones that are have stood the test of time because they absolutely serve the public interest.
One such provision is that the government be obligated to publish its bills, orders, resolutions and votes in a publicly available newspaper — a requirement dating back to the first Congress.
The purpose was to compel government to report its actions to its citizens in a medium independent of government influence.
Publishing public notices in a newspaper of record ensures decisions related to public debt, laws, policy, taxation and quality of life are made in the open.
It empowers the public to get involved. And it contributes to a reservoir of archived material in a form that cannot be altered, changed, hacked, hidden or manipulated after the fact.
Those principles will be compromised, however, if the state Legislature adopts SB-5360 and HB-1478, which would permit local governments to post notices only to their own self-maintained Web sites rather than a designated newspaper.
Simply put, the objective of transparency in government is ill-served by a law that would make public officials the gatekeeper of their own information.
Advocates point to the convenience and cost savings of posting the notices online rather than in print. The problem is, there are still those who lack access to the Internet; meanwhile, newspapers such as this one publish legals online for free in addition to the paid in-print version. So for a nominal fee, governments currently get twice the exposure they would if the new laws were passed.
This isn’t about saving money. It’s about preserving public access to the legislative process and continuing to provide a service without which fewer — rather than more — would know what their elected leaders are up to.
Let your legislator know you want the public notices provision of SB-5360 and HB-1478 removed. Here’s how to contact them:
First District
• Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, (360) 786-7600
• Rep. Derek Stanford, (360) 786-7928
• Rep. Luis Moscoso, (360) 786-7900
32nd District
• Sen. Maralyn Chase, (360) 786-7662
• Rep. Cindy Ryu, (360) 786-7880
• Rep. Ruth Kagi, (360) 786-7910
