Last week, Louisiana became the first state to pass a law that will eventually make newspaper websites the primary platform for public notice. HB-650 requires local governments to post their notices on official newspaper websites beginning in 2027. They’ll also be required to publish print notices describing the subject matter and location of the online notices, but — in a reversal of present custom — the print ads will be free and the online notices will be the ads they pay for.
HB-650 passed both houses unanimously and is expected to be signed by Gov. Jon Bel Edwards when it reaches his desk.
State press group touts multi-channel infrastructure
If the battle over public notice in state legislatures is framed as “newspapers vs the Internet,” newspapers lose.
The Louisiana Press Association (LPA) has taken that lesson to heart as it prepares for a 2022 legislative session that it’s nervous about. In an attractive two-page flyer that will serve as a leave-behind for meetings with legislators (see flyer below), LPA is taking a new messaging approach by touting its members’ digital prowess in delivering public notice advertising across multiple channels.
Poor customer service a threat to newspaper notice
Article III, Section 13(A) of Louisiana’s Constitution requires legislators to publish two notices in a local paper when they plan to introduce a “local or special law” in the state legislature. The notices must “state the substance of the contemplated law, and every such bill shall recite that notice has been given.”
So: No notice, no bill.
Some Louisiana lawmakers may have been prevented from introducing local bills this year due to a lack of notice. We know this because — much to the chagrin of the Louisiana Press Association (LPA) — it became a topic of discussion in the legislature during discussions over Senate Bill 101, which authorized self-storage facilities to advertise lien sales “on a publicly accessible website that conducts personal property auctions” in lieu of a newspaper.