Local governments in Pennsylvania and in some cases, the state government, have long been required by state law to publicly advertise meeting notices, bid solicitations and other important public information.
Now, under the false premise that eliminating that requirement can save public money without adversely affecting public disclosure, the Senate Local Government Committee has approved a bill that would allow local governments to post such information only on their own websites.
First, our own disclosure: The News-Item, and every newspaper that publishes paid legal advertising, has a financial stake in this issue.
That said, it is for very good reasons that the law requires public notice advertising in publications of general circulation. Most often, that means a daily newspaper.
That phrase, general circulation, is descriptive. It means that people don't have to go looking specifically for important information in a place designated by the government, that broadly circulating the information means that as many people as possible will see it.
That's still the point, despite the ability of local governments to post the information online.
Consider, say, a local government construction bid. There's no better way to ensure that a contractor favored by a local government official has an edge for a contract than to post it only on the government's own website. A contractor might know to look for it, but all contractors in the region would have no idea.
The issue is of particular importance locally, where, due to the high percentage of older people, Internet use is significantly lower than in much of the state. The same is true statewide, in comparison with other states.
And, even people who go online rarely go to local government websites, which are among the least visited. Yet during October, the total visits to newsitem.com were 275,558; unique visits were 116,090 and total page views were 718,715. No local government website could come close.
The Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association also operates a website, mypublicnotices.com, that posts all public notices by all local governments statewide, for free.
Local government officials and some state lawmakers would like to pretend that no costs are attached to truly open government, but they are wrong. Their plan would be equivalent to only posting notices on the borough building door.
The Senate committee has moved the bill, but its implications for local governance should be considered before it gets any farther.
