OP-ED: Bill is first step toward eliminating public notices in newspapers

We've all seen them, those oxymorons – postal service, military intelligence, government efficiency.

Well here's a story from right here in North Dakota that's all about spending $150,000 in taxpayers' hard-earned cash to create something that's already free.

Proponents of SB 2069, which was brought by the PSC as a "backstop" to protect against newspapers failing to publish a hearing notice, would give all units of government the option of also posting notices on the Secretary of State's website.

PSC staff claim this is not an attempt to remove public notices from newspapers, but the bill comes with an appropriation aimed at giving a state agency the ability to publish all public notices -- thereby duplicating a service newspapers also provide, and it's free.

Consider:

▪The North Dakota Newspaper Association already maintains a public notice website, http://www.ndpublicnotices.com – which a member of the Senate State and Local Government committee has conceded is far superior to the Secretary of State's website – at no cost to the state or consumers.

▪Newspapers are already REQUIRED BY LAW to publish all of their public notices on this website, at no additional cost to the unit of government and the public can access all notices at no cost.

▪The rate of missed public notices is tiny. For instance, the rate of error on 583 administrative rules placements last year by NDNA was 0.03 percent. None of those few errors invalidated the notice.

▪NDNA has proposed a process whereby we will specially handle PSC hearing notices, but commission staff have rejected it. It's worth noting the genesis of this bill was a single missed PSC hearing notice 18 months ago.

Bills like this morph over time. What starts as "may" becomes a "shall." This bill applies to ALL units of government – cities, counties, townships, not just state government – and the committee giving this bill a DO PASS has made clear that's where they want this to go.

This bill would, for the FIRST TIME EVER, equate publication on a government website with adequate public notice and once that rubicon is passed, there's no going back.

Once state government has spent $150,000 of taxpayer money duplicating a system newspapers are already providing, it will be much easier to make the case those print publications in newspapers are no longer necessary.

Tune in, if you will, to a hearing Friday, where more than one member of the committee made their disdain for newspapers clear along with direct statements about where they hope this goes in the future: https://tinyurl.com/jnw675fj

Though the committee has discussed SB 2069 several times since the original hearing, no one from the committee has responded to NDNA about a proposed amendment we made, nor invited us back to the committee to explore remedies other than spending $150,000.

They don't see us as the public's advocate. They see us as "milking" state government, when the whole point of public notice is to provide information to the public and oversight of government! We know voters understand this, and it's something all of us must now fight to keep.

NDNA research shows voters are adamantly opposed to public notices on government websites. Only 18 percent of North Dakotans said they trust government to be the only source of public notices. Yet, elected officials and state employees are hellbent in duplicating services newspapers are already providing and they're unwilling to work toward a cheaper solution.

Whether you are a local government official, a citizen who believes in keeping public notices in newspapers, or frustrated money is being spent needlessly, please contact your district senator to urge a NO vote on SB 2069.

As I originally testified before this committee, no human endeavor is perfect, but NDNA – and local newspapers – have an exemplary record of publishing public notices. After all, if notices don't run, newspapers don't get paid!

The North Dakota Newspaper Association has offered to work with state government to find a way to use our own well-established public notice website to achieve the same aim as SB 2069, but the hand we've extended has been rebuffed, the reputations of 73 individual newspapers impugned, and the wishes of citizens ignored.

SB 2069's cost is out of proportion with the risks it aims to negate. Make no mistake, its aim is to eventually put the fox on guard of the henhouse of government information.