Support for public notice in newspapers received another boost on Nov. 1, when a joint legislative committee issued a report (PDF) recommending that Texas continue to rely on newspapers to inform the public about official actions in the state. The Joint Interim Committee on Advertising Public Notices suggested the legislature “maintain the current print requirement” and called newspapers “a third party who both creates a lasting and reliable record of the notice and acts as a gatekeeper to ensure that governments post their notices correctly.”
Texas was the third state this year in which a legislative committee created to study public notice advertising ultimately recommended it remain in newspapers. Legislative committees in Wisconsin and Kentucky both issued their reports in support of newspaper notice in October.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced the appointment of the joint committee in April, asking it to “ensure efficiency, effectiveness and transparency in the way public notices are posted.” At its only hearing, held on Aug. 18, “ none of the lawmakers (appointed to serve on the committee) voiced support for loosening notice requirements,” according to a report in the El Paso Times. Several newspaper industry representatives testified at the hearing, including El Paso Times Editor Robert Moore; Gainesville Daily Register Publisher Lisa Chappell; Beeville Bee-Picayune Co-Publisher Chip Latcham; and Texas Press Association (TPA) Executive Vice President Donnis Baggett.
Although the committee recommended that legislators continue to study the issue, it clearly indicated that government agencies should never be entrusted with the responsibility of providing public notice about their own activities. “(T)here may come a time when the print requirement no longer serves the needs of the people,” the report noted. “In such a circumstance, however, the necessity of placing the notice with a local, third-party media organization likely remains.”
The committee also cited newspapers’ online presence and their willingness to post public notice advertising on their own websites as additional reasons to retain the current statutory requirements.
The committee called on the legislature to distinguish the costs of public notice from other types of advertising, and to create a supplemental notification system through the state comptroller’s office. As TPA’s Baggett noted this week at a Newspaper Association Manager’s meeting in Arlington, Va., the first recommendation was necessary because government agencies in Texas lump all advertising costs together and have no way of knowing how much money they spend on public notice. Baggett also said the committee stipulated that the website and email notification system it is recommending for the comptroller’s office does not alone satisfy the public notice requirement.